Reborn from the Ashes
by BelacquaDelacour
Summary: When he couldn't have Lily Evans, Severus Snape married another. Now Lily is dead, the Dark Lord is defeated, and the Snapes are moving to Hogwarts. Here's a family with a heavy past and a lot of secrets. Throw in Dumbledore, Voldemort, Harry and stir. AU
1. Prologue

Author's Note: Hello HP fans! I just saw the new movie and was reminded of how dearly I love these characters. I started writing for fun and thought I would post for fun. This is a somewhat AU version of events in that it introduces an OC, but I wanted to tell a story about Snape that would give him added depth (as if he needs it). So his story is altered in some major ways, and the same in others. Ultimately it will be about Harry's years at Hogwarts, but it begins where it begins. I would love it if you would review with thoughts. If you don't like OC pairings, this probably isn't for you. Happy Reading! _**-BD**_

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Harry Potter. All original characters belong to me.

* * *

**Prologue**

The summer was almost over. Severus was ready for the August heat to pass. He was ready to go back to Hogwarts. Everything would be different now; this would be his first time teaching, his first year back at Hogwarts since he had been a student. Of course, Dumbledore had denied him the Defense Against the Dark Arts post, said it was too soon, people would grumble and question. Severus thought it was a funny excuse – such things never seemed to bother Dumbledore. Why then? Did Dumbledore still not trust him – even after all he had done – even after he had risked everything to spy on the Dark Lord? Severus tried to convince himself that it was just because he was talented at Potions. That had to be the reason.

Severus glanced down at the dark mark on his arm. It would always be a reminder of his past. Some days he wondered if Raleigh would ever move beyond the lies, the dark deeds, and the fact that he had truly been a servant of the Dark Lord. Even more, he wondered if she would ever really forgive him for risking their daughter's life to try and save Lily.

Tired of being alone with his thoughts, he apparated home from the grassy hill where he had gone to sit. It was quiet in the house, and as he climbed the stairs he heard a giggle coming from the room at the end of the hall. He pushed open the door and glanced down at the small child who sat on the floor, humming to herself.

His dark thoughts chased away, Severus smiled and tugged on his daughter's curly blond ponytail. How he had produced such a beautiful child he would never know, but Ariana was utterly perfect. The little girl turned her head and smiled up at him.

"Daddy, you're home!" she said, jumping up from the floor where she had been doing a puzzle and throwing herself into his arms. He held her soft three year old body tight for a moment before loosening his embrace and letting her down. He loved her so very dearly. "Daddy, I'm missing a piece of this puzzle. Can you find it for me?"

Severus pulled out his wand and waved it once. "Accio, missing piece."

A small puzzle piece flew out from beneath the bed and into his palm. He handed it to his daughter and watched as she fit it into the proper place. Severus frowned when he realized what the puzzle was a picture of. It was a small child, bundled up in some blankets and sleeping, with a tuft of dark hair and a lightening bolt shaped scar on his forehead.

Harry Potter. James and Lily's Harry. The Boy Who Lived.

He remembered a particularly painful conversation with Dumbledore, after Lily had died.

"_If you loved Lily Evans, if you truly loved her, then your way forward is clear."_

"_What – what do you mean?"_

"_You know how and why she died. Make sure it was not in vain. Help me protect Lily's son."_

"_He does not need protection. The Dark Lord has gone –"_

"_The Dark Lord will return, and Harry Potter will be in terrible danger when he does."_

One day Harry would come to Hogwarts, and it would be time to face his promise.

"Raleigh!" he called, perhaps more harshly than he needed to, and his wife appeared in the doorway of Ariana's room. His eyes darkened. By the look on her face, it was clear that she knew why he had called her. She knew he would be angry and she had bought it anyway.

He stepped towards her, lowering his voice to almost a growl. "Can you tell me the meaning of this?"

Raleigh put her hands on her hips and scowled back at him. "Severus, really. She saw it in the store and asked for it. I saw no reason to tell her no. Harry is famous. Ariana deserves to know about what happened."

"She's three years old," he protested, taking another step toward her.

"She'll be four in December," Raleigh retorted, her gray eyes battling for dominance with his dark ones. "She's a very smart girl and she'll be one of Harry's peers someday. Besides, there's no reason to be upset about it other than the fact that he's _Lily's_." She let out the last word with a sigh of frustration. "You are just as glad as anyone that You-Know-Who has been defeated. What really bothers you about Harry is _her_."

"She's dead, Raleigh," he said, the pain evident in his voice. "He killed her, no matter what I did to try and stop it. Harry is only a few years younger than Ariana. Some days I just…"

"He could have killed _us_. He would have killed Ariana if he had ever found out about your betrayal. You let saving Lily take precedence over our daughter! Some days I wonder if you would've have turned over James and Harry if it meant saving Lily."

He slammed a fist against the wall, whether in anger or grief even he couldn't say. "What would you have wanted me to do, Raleigh? Remain his servant? Keep lying to you? Let the Potters die?" His eyes flicked over to the child sitting on the floor. "Ariana survived. Harry survived." He bit his lip. "Even if Lily didn't."

Raleigh's expression softened. She knew she was asking the wrong thing of him. The past was the past. "It's been nearly a year, Severus. You have to start letting her go. It's not fair to me."

Severus ran a hand down his face and felt his heartbeat slow. Raleigh was right. He wasn't being fair. Yes, he would always dislike Harry for being James' son and not his, but there was no reason to take it out on Raleigh and Ariana. Raleigh had suffered enough.

He reached out a hand and stroked Raleigh's cheek. "It's never been fair to you. I'm sorry," he said softly. She leaned into his touch, closing her eyes and nuzzling against his hand.

"I love you, Severus," she said, and when he bent his head to kiss her, he knew that he loved her too. Lily Potter was dead.

* * *

For Severus Snape, the aftermath of Voldemort's defeat was just as draining as the events that led up to it. He watched men and women he once considered friends get carted off to Azkaban, some of them thanks to his information. Even as he mourned the loss of Lily Potter, he searched for his own wife and child. Raleigh had wanted nothing to do with him once she learned of his service to the Dark Lord, and she and Ariana had disappeared beyond his reach for more than a year. That year had been one of the worst of his life, not only because he was frantic about Lily, but because he was terrified of being caught spying for the Order.

Despite the trials of those painful months, he survived. He won back his wife and child. And Albus Dumbledore had been there through it all, protecting him and asking only as much of him as he could give. Dumbledore spoke of Harry only when necessary, and for the most part he left Severus to his own musings. Truly, he had loved Lily Evans as much as any man ever could, but she had not chosen him. She had watched him become a Death Eater and she had chosen James Potter.

Severus had chosen too. He had met Raleigh Malloy during their third year, and while he had allowed himself to have something of a crush on the petite silver-haired girl who excelled at Potions, he had never felt for her the way he had for Lily. Still, Raleigh was special, unbelievably special…

_"Regulus Black, don't touch me!" a small voice shrieked. _

_ Severus stopped in his tracks and turned towards the sound, losing sight of Lily in the commotion that followed. The Hogwarts Express had only just dropped them off at Hogwarts and already there was a conflict, before they could even get in the carriages and make it to the castle._

_When he turned he noticed a small crowd had gathered around two figures in Hogwarts robes. A small fifth year Gryffindor that he knew well was glaring at his fellow Slytherin, Regulus Black. "You are a loathsome boy and I hope you die!" she declared._

_He had to give it to her, when she got mad, Raleigh Malloy was quite feisty._

"_All I wanted to know was if you were going in search of your sweetheart, ol' Snapey." Regulus taunted back, taking a step towards her._

_Suddenly, Raleigh burst into flames and Regulus screamed. Severus ran forward, frantically thinking of spells that might save her, yet just as he reached her side the flames subsided. Regulus was on the ground crying, and Raleigh looked perfectly unharmed. There was a smug look on her face and she stalked off, the entire crowd staring at her in shock._

_Severus followed her immediately, his long strides allowing him to catch up to her in very little time. They soon left the crowd behind and entered the Forbidden Forest._

"_Are you planning to walk all the way to the castle?" he asked. "You'll miss the sorting, maybe even the feast."_

_Raleigh didn't answer, just reached up a hand and moved some silvery-blond hair behind her ear. Severus decided to try again._

"_So, what _was_ that?" he asked, preparing for an angry response._

_Raleigh glanced at him and frowned, quickening her step. "Remember how I wrote you that I was sick this summer? That my father took me to St. Mungo's?"_

_Severus nodded. "I remember. Your parents are muggles, but your father is one of the foremost medical contacts for wizard-muggle relations – he helps disguise wizard potions as medicines for the non-magic world."_

"_Right. My dad is an expert with patents and marketing "miracle cures" and he's been a liaison for years, since before I was born. Anyways, this summer the wizards were trying to experiment with a new substance in their potions. Around the same time I fell ill for no explicable reason. As it happens, both my father and the potion-inventors were anxious to reach the same goal. My father wanted to save my rapidly ending life and the experimenters wanted a subject on which to test their new potion." Raleigh paused, slowing her steps and finally coming to a halt. "Severus, it is very important that you don't repeat what I'm about to tell you. I already screwed up enough back there."_

_Severus nodded, his eyes meeting hers and finding no hint of humor in them._

"_The potion worked, as you see, I didn't die. However, what no one anticipated were side-effects. You see, Severus, the new ingredient was phoenix tears..."_

"_Which have healing powers…" Severus finished in a whisper, his mind whirling with the implications. _

_Raleigh nodded. "Somehow, although I recovered from my illness, I didn't return to normal. The phoenix medicine left me with certain qualities. While the phoenix flames at its death, I can summon a blaze at will. I can also—" she blushed a little, "pick up amazingly heavy objects, much like the phoenix."_

"_Can you fly?" Severus asked._

_Raleigh resumed walking, "No, but I can do something almost as good."_

_She burst into flames, and was gone. Severus stood with his mouth open, staring at the spot where she had just been standing in disbelief. A single red feather lay on the ground where her feet had been._

_Before he had the chance to pick it up, she reappeared in a flash of fire._

"_How, how…" he said, searching for words.  
_

_She smiled. "I can apparate. Or whatever the phoenix equivalent is. Anywhere." She raised an eyebrow. "_Anywhere_," she repeated. _

"_This is just impossible," Severus sputtered, staring at the ground as he tried to collect his thoughts. He and Raleigh had been friends for years now, but he had never seen this coming. Her letters hadn't even hinted at it.  
_

"_Ready to go? I know you don't want to miss the sorting. Or rather, Lily Evans."  
_

"_Go where?" he asked, confused._

_Raleigh slid her warm hand into his, threading her fingers through his and squeezing._

"_The Great Hall, of course."_

_And for the briefest second, Severus felt the heat of flames surround him, before he found himself standing in the Hogwarts Great Hall, surrounded by a crowd of students and with the smell of gingerbread in the air. _

Yes, Raleigh Malloy was one of a kind in the wizarding world, well capable of taking care of herself. Blinded by love, he had always placed her second to Lily. Blinded by power, he had placed her second even to the Dark Lord. For that, he was only just beginning to understand the full consequences.


	2. Seven Years Later

Seven years later

"Hard to believe she's being sorted today," Raleigh said, coming to stand by Severus at the window. He turned and looked over his shoulder at the sweet blond girl curled up in an armchair by the fireplace. "Feels like just yesterday we were moving to Hogwarts." Raleigh's voice was wistful.

"Time has moved quickly," he replied, his gaze shifting from his child to his wife. She didn't seem to have aged a day, her long silvery hair still as beautiful as ever. He brushed a smudge of flour off her cheek.

"You've been spending a lot of time with the house elves in the kitchens."

"Yes, I'm rather fond of them. They know all sorts of recipes."

Severus smiled. "I know there are days when you would rather not be stuck at Hogwarts, but I appreciate your willingness to live here. It is where I need to be."

Raleigh nodded. "You know I'm never really stuck here. Except for maybe Dumbledore I'm the only person who can apparate off the grounds."

He reached towards her and pulled her small body into his arms, hugging her close. "I know. I'm just saying I'm glad you don't leave," he whispered into her hair, enjoying the warmth of her against him.

Taking his hand, she pulled away and turned to their daughter.

"Ariana, it's time to go. All the students are arriving at the castle. Your father has Head of House duties and you need to put on your school robes."

The lovely blond girl jumped up from her chair and walked over to join her parents. She wouldn't turn eleven until late December, but Dumbledore had made an exception for her to start school this year, mostly because she showed surprising maturity and a genuine thirst for learning.

Ariana sighed and took her father's free hand. "I feel as though I've grown up at Hogwarts. I barely remember our old house. Still, today I feel like a stranger. Do you think the other first years will like me?"

Severus bent down and lifted her chin. "Is this why you've been so quiet the past few days? You're nervous about starting school? Ari, I've missed your energy. Show your housemates how fun you can be, and you'll have no problem fitting in. I promise."

Ariana nodded, her color brightening a bit. "Okay, Dad. Just try not to embarrass me, okay?"

Severus chuckled. He wasn't so sure about that. He was known as one of the rather more frightening professors.

"I will do my best."

She smiled and he felt as though the whole room brightened. Some days she really reminded him of…Lily.

* * *

Severus had to work hard to keep a frown on his face as he watched the group of first years standing nervously in front of the Sorting Hat while Minerva explained how it worked. Ariana looked rather pale, but it wouldn't be her turn for a while.

He allowed his mind to wander, remembering the day he himself had been sorted.

"_Evans, Lily."_

_ He crossed his fingers for Slytherin, and was dismayed when the hat instantly called Gryffindor. Lily smiled, shrugged at him, and skipped off to join the Gryffindor table. He scowled. Maybe he could get in Gryffindor too. He waited anxiously as Lupin, Remus; Malloy, Raleigh; Pettigrew, Peter; and Potter, James were called up. All Gryffindor. Suddenly it was his turn. He approached the hat nervously. Maybe if Lily was in Gryffindor it wouldn't be so bad._

_ "Interesting, yes interesting," said the hat as Professor McGonagall set it on his head. "I know where you belong, right where I wanted to put the Black boy. Hmm. You belong in Slytherin, you know. Wanting to be a Gryffindor because of a friend is very different from wanting to be a Gryffindor because you're brave and true. There is nowhere else for you. SLYTHERIN!"_

_ Severus got up frowning, and when he looked at Lily she made a sad face. Instead of paying her any attention he walked straight over to the Slytherin table and allowed his fellow housemates to pat him on the back. He couldn't bare to look at Lily, not since things had turned out like this._

"Snape, Ariana."

Severus was jerked out of his memories. He watched his fair-haired daughter sit down, the sorting hat falling over her ears. She sat there for a full minute before the hat screamed GRYFFINDOR!

He frowned a little. Ah well, it was her mother's House. Maybe the sorting hat had a thing against fathers being the Head of House of children. He watched as the Gryffindors patted her back. She was soon followed by Weasley, Fred and Weasley, George. Goodness, there were more of them? He already taught Bill, Charlie, and Percy. The two boys went to sit on either side of Ariana, both chorusing hello at the same time.

He suddenly felt protective of her. Still, there was something about red-heads that put him at ease. Ari would be all right. It was good to make new friends. He remembered repeating those words over and over the first time he had met Raleigh.

_It's good to make new friends. It's good to make new friends._

_ Severus wasn't sure how he had let Lily talk him into this, but then again, it was rare that he ever told her no. He marched through the snow drifts, looking forward to a warm butterbeer. His robes were really in no shape for the cold weather._

_ The door to the Hogshead slammed shut behind him and suddenly he was enveloped in warmth. Despite the snowy walk, it was worth it to be a third year, just to be able to go to Hogsmeade. He spotted Lily sitting in a corner. Beside her was a pretty girl with silvery blond hair, dressed in Gryffindor robes and trying not to look like she was reading while Lily talked to her. _

_ He walked over to the table and smiled at Lily. "Hi."_

_ "Hi, Severus. This is Raleigh Malloy. She's our year. She's stellar at Potions."_

_ He wondered why they had never met before. He was certain that Slytherin and Gryffindor had had double potions at least once in the last few years. _

_ "I'm going to get us a few butterbeers. Why don't you all talk?"_

_ Suddenly he felt suspiciously like Lily had set him up. She disappeared and he was left with a girl he barely knew, unsure of what to say or how to act. It was most irritating._

_ "So, you're good at Potions?"_

_ She lifted her gaze from the book and smiled. She really was quite unique looking. _

_ "Lily is exaggerating. She's the one who's so good. Slughorn just adores her. I made a perfectly decent cauldron of Amortentia the other day and he didn't even notice because Lily happened to be able to tell him what a bezoar is. As if anyone doesn't already know that."_

_ She rolled her eyes, but then grinned. "She really is a lovely girl."_

_ He couldn't help smiling back. "Has she told you about the Slug Club? Ugh, so gross." Severus didn't want to admit that he had been waiting impatiently for Slughorn to notice him. He would give anything to be in the Slug Club with Lily.  
_

_ "Really. It's downright vomit-worthy. Listen, if you want to ditch, I've never been up to the Shrieking Shack and Lily is too scared. Want to come?"_

_ Perhaps it was the mischievous gleam in her eye or the fact that for once he wanted to be the one that was leaving Lily behind, but he said yes. And so had begun the sort of friendship that Severus valued because it made him stop thinking about Lily. When he was with Raleigh, they talked about other things, dreamed about future careers, and she never criticized him for anything. By the time they were fifth years, they were close enough that she was willing to trust him with her phoenix secret. Close enough that even Regulus Black was noticing how much she liked him. Close enough that by the second time he kissed her, he didn't imagine he was kissing Lily Evans._

"First years, follow me!" He heard the prefects yelling as the Great Hall started to empty. He watched Ariana walking away, the twin red-heads by her side. Yes, if she was anything like her mother (and she was) she would do just fine.

Raleigh appeared at his side and he rose.

"There goes our baby," she murmured, looping her arm through his and leaning against him. "Off to become a witch."

"She'll be a first rate witch. Just like her mum."

Raleigh smiled softly and squeezed his hand. He was enveloped in warmth and then he found himself back in his room. She let go of his hand and started walking towards the fire, which had died down in their absence. He reached out and grabbed her back, pulling her into his arms and kissing her thoroughly. Another flash of fire and they were in bed, her kisses filled with a breathless sort of passion that left his heart beating a like he had just run a marathon.

As he slid his hand through her silky hair he realized that it would only be two more years until Harry arrived. Just two years before everything changed. He would have to see Lily's eyes on a regular basis, see James' face. He let his tongue invade Raleigh's mouth, enjoyed the moan that escaped her lips when he whispered a spell that left them both naked. She helped him forget, she had always helped him to forget.

* * *

Ariana Snape was pleased. She would never tell her father, but she was glad to be in Gryffindor. It was the right fit for her, and the Sorting Hat had seemed to enjoy the dilemma of choosing between houses.

And she had already made friends. She knew some of the Gryffindors simply because she had grown up in the castle, but she wanted to spend the most time with her fellow first years. She liked Fred and George. They talked a lot and made silly jokes. She snuggled tighter under the blanket. The Common Room was empty, everyone had gone to bed, but she had wanted to sit up and relive the day as she thought over each and every detail, from the moment the Sorting Hat had yelled Gryffindor to the wonderful desserts at dinner that she knew her mother had helped prepare.

"Hey, Ari! Want to come with? We're going to explore the castle!"

Ariana turned and peeked over the back of the couch where she was sitting. Fred and George were standing by the portrait hole, grins on their faces.

"We aren't allowed out of our dormitories at night," she insisted. "Besides, I've already explored the castle."

"Oh don't be a spoil sport," Fred said.

"Yeah don't be a spoil sport," George echoed. "Besides, that means you know all the good spots."

"Come on!" They said in unison, and ducked out of the portrait hole. Ari rolled her eyes and got up, missing the warmth of the blanket but glad to know she had some exciting friends who weren't afraid of making mischief.


	3. Secrets Past and Present

"How is Ariana adjusting to classes?" Dumbledore asked, his voice softening as he said her name. Severus paced in front of Dumbledore's desk as the older man watched him with calm eyes behind half-moon spectacles.

"She's doing well. We knew she would. I have to admit, I still haven't gotten used to giving Gryffindor points for right answers."

Dumbledore chuckled. "But that's not what's bothering you." It wasn't a question, merely a stated observation.

Severus didn't answer, but he continued his pacing. Dumbledore knew better than to ask him to sit down. He never sat in the headmaster's presence. Although it had taken a tragedy to realize it, Severus knew his loyalty to the silver-haired wizard was absolute. The Dark Lord's murder of Lily Potter was unforgivable, and from the moment she died he had pledged himself to the Order, heart and soul.

"If you like, you are welcome to make use of my pensieve to unclutter your thoughts."

Severus shook his head. "Headmaster, I'm concerned that Raleigh doesn't have enough to keep her occupied. She's such a brilliant woman and she spends all her time with the house elves, especially now that Ariana is living in the dormitories and trying as hard as she can to pretend her parents don't live in the castle."

Dumbledore nodded. "A similar thought had crossed my mind. I always believed she would come to me when she was ready for something more. I still do, Severus."

"Yes but perhaps we should move. Perhaps she wants to work for the Ministry or St. Mungo's. She always talked about following in her father's footsteps."

"Severus."

Dumbledore's voice was stern now, and his next words were not to be taken lightly.

"Severus, Raleigh can come and go to any job as she pleases. She and I both know that. There is nothing that keeps her here during the day. Your wife is a smart lady and she will come to me when the time is right. Perhaps she has not yet accepted that fact that her daughter has left the nest. Until that time, I suggest that you stop coming to me with excuses to leave your post. Harry _will_ be here in two years. And so will you."

Severus knew the conversation had ended, so he merely nodded once to show that he understood and left the headmaster's office. As he descended the stairs and entered a corridor he realized he was nearly late for his next Potions lesson. By the time he reached the dungeons he was able to enter the classroom at the perfect time to startle his students into attention.

"Mr. Diggory!" he said as he swept into the room, "Can you tell me what is the most important ingredient in a Sleeping Draught?"

The handsome boy produced a satisfactory answer and Severus set his students about beginning the simple potion that could be so very useful to a witch or wizard. As he patrolled the room, he let his thoughts wander back to the first time he had allowed Raleigh to give up on a dream for him, back to when they themselves had still been young Potions students...

_"It can be done, Severus. I serve the Dark Lord and take care of my wife. Of course, I am not hiding anything from her." Lucius Malfoy sneered, tapping Severus on the ankle with his cane. "You should come clean, enlist her help."_

_ As impractical as it seemed, Severus was determined to marry Raleigh once they left Hogwarts at the end of the year. He just couldn't bare to look at Lily and James, happily engaged in spite of the darkness around them. He had to respond with something. The fact that Raleigh had no idea he had become a Death Eater weighed on him only a little. It would be easy enough to hide – he was decent at memory charms. _

_ "All right, Malfoy. Thanks for your advice. I'll think about it."_

_ He pulled out his wand beneath the table where they were sitting and whispered Obliviate. There was no need for Malfoy to remember this conversation. There was no way that Severus would ever let the Dark Lord know he had a wife, should Raleigh consent to the marriage. He was skilled enough at Occlumency to keep him from ever finding out. _

_ "Well, Severus, it was good of you to stop by for the holiday. Enjoy the rest of your term. You'll know if anything comes up."_

_ The two men rose from the table and Malfoy showed him to the door of Malfoy Manor. _

_ "Goodnight, Lucius." Severus turned on the spot and apparated to a now familiar house on the outskirts of London. A moment later he had knocked on the door._

_ It was opened by a lovely young woman, whose head came only to his shoulder and whose long silver hair danced when she moved. Her eyes lit up when she recognized the man who stood on her front stoop, and he felt a pang of regret when he realized the wall of lies he had already begun erecting between them._

_ "Severus! What are you doing here? I thought you'd gone home for the holidays."_

_ "Raleigh, I wanted to see you. I have something important to ask you."_

_ Her eyes widened. "Why don't you come in, Severus? My parents would be happy to see you. Besides, it's Christmas Eve, we should be sitting round the tree drinking eggnog."_

_ Severus shook his head and reached out to take her hand._

_ "Will you take us somewhere quiet? I want to be alone with you."_

_ Her eyes met his, and he was mesmerized by the glow that now lit them. Then she squeezed his hand and he was surrounded by heat. The warmth of her phoenix fire meant it felt all the more shocking to return to the cold. _

_ "Where are we?" he asked, scanning their surroundings._

_ "Northern Ireland," she said. The view from the mountaintop where they stood was breathtaking. The land sprawled out below them was blanketed in snow and the sky was full of stars. Severus watched their breaths fog in the air before he turned to her._

_ "I'm afraid this couldn't wait until we returned to Hogwarts. I just had to know…" he swallowed, suddenly nervous, as though he was making a terrible mistake. "I had to know, if you would marry me."_

_ Raleigh's eyes grew large and she seemed confused. "Marry you? But I had hoped…"_

_ He took her hand and held it, his eyes focused on her fingers as he chose his next words._

_ "I know that you want to travel. I know you want to look for new potion ingredients and create cures like your father. But I want you here with me. I want you at my side when we walk out the doors of Hogwarts and enter the world."_

_ Severus knew what he was asking her to give up, but he felt like he had no other choice. He served the most powerful wizard that had ever lived, and the status he received from his new-found position as a Death Eater was impossible to give up. But so was Raleigh, and some small part of him knew that if she was with him, she would be safe. The fact that she was muggle-born didn't matter. She was the only person who could make him forget Lily Evans. He could NOT lose her. _

_ "Do you love me?" she asked softly._

_ Love had not entered the equation. He needed her. He needed the Dark Lord. He couldn't have the future Mrs. James Potter, the woman he truly loved. It was that simple. Raleigh was the answer. And if she needed love in order to agree to stay with him, then he would make her believe it existed. He thought of the Dark mark on his forearm beneath his dark robes, and then he thought of the way Raleigh's lips felt against his.  
_

_ "Yes."_

_ "Then of course I'll marry you," she said, a smile blossoming on her face. She leaned forward to kiss him, and as their lips met she produced a magical fire around their bodies, relieving the pinch of the cold and adding a layer to the passion she already produced. Her mouth was just the same as ever, soft, willing, and gentle. He cupped her cheeks in his hands and kissed her until he almost forgot himself, until he almost believed that they were just another young couple who got engaged on Christmas Eve. _

_ Already he was caught in a web of lies and illusions. And all because of the seductive appeal of power and his terrible desire to forget Lily Evans. _

He had ill-used Raleigh Malloy, that was for certain. For two years he had learned to live with the lies, and when the truth was revealed, he had also learned to live with the consequences of those lies.

"Professor Snape?"

He could always tell when they were afraid of him. He could hear it in their voices when they spoke to him. Severus turned and faced a trembling second year.

"Yes?"

"My potion – it's…" the boy trailed off, looking over his shoulder at the boiling cauldron.

Severus rolled his eyes and went to clean up the mess.

"Ten points from Hufflepuff," he murmured.

* * *

"You two really have to stop making Filch angry with you. If I see Mrs. Norris lurking around a corner one more time…"

Ariana was marching down a corridor, her blond ponytail bouncing as she prepared to give the Weasley twins the lecture of their lives. Instead, she found herself interrupted, and if she had known better she would have realized that no one could give a lecture quite like Mrs. Weasley. They had heard it _all_.

"Yes, we really should do something about that cat," Fred said, throwing an arm around Ariana's shoulders. "Thanks for the idea, Ari."

Ariana groaned and wished she hadn't opened her mouth.

"As long as you don't try to poison her."

Fred and George exchanged glances over her head, both of them grinning mischievously. Ariana finally laughed and allowed them to pull her along into the Great Hall. The two boys certainly knew how to get into trouble, from exploding toilets in the girl's lavatory to letting loose a cage of pixies during Defense Against the Dark Arts. And yet she was grateful for their friendship. After their first Potions lesson with her father she hadn't been so sure, but the boys had firmly ignored the fact that their least favorite professor was her dad.

When they neared the Gryffindor table the twins joined their friend Lee Jordan and began scarfing down food. Ariana glanced up to the high table where the professors sat and met her father's eyes. She smiled, knowing that he wouldn't be able to resist a smile in return. She wasn't disappointed. It had taken some getting used to, seeing him frowning most of the time. No one had warned her that her dad was so cold and strict in the classroom.

She didn't mind though. She liked Potions, and she had always thrived under his no nonsense way of teaching her. It was partly his serious ways that kept her from running home every night. She knew that she was expected to stay in the dormitories, and despite her night-time forays with the twins, she never once thought of going home.

"Hey Ari, come take a look at this!" George called through a mouthful of roast chicken. He waved a hand at her and she peered over his shoulder at the newspaper he was reading. It was an article about next summer's Quidditch World Cup, set to be held in France. The article was encouraging readers to "Buy tickets now!"

"Who do you think will be in the final match?" she asked.

"Britain, of course!" Fred said, looking at her like she was mad for even asking.

"Do you want to go, Ari?" George asked at the same time. "Lee said his uncle can get us tickets at a great price. I don't know how we would get to France, but we can always worry about that later."

Ariana shook her head. "My dad would never let me go. We're only eleven, guys. We'd have to have some sort of chaperone."

"Thought of that already," they said in unison. "Our brother Bill."

Bill Weasley was a seventh year, and Ariana would never admit it to the twins, but she had a bit of a crush on him. He was terribly handsome and really smart. He was also Head Boy, which made him practically a school celebrity.

"Welllllll, maybe if I ask my mum," she said, blushing a little as she thought of going to Paris with Bill Weasley.

"Ask away, dear girl. We're writing home to our mum tonight."

Ariana didn't dare look down the table to where Bill and another Weasley brother, Charlie, sat. Fred and George would never let her live it down if they knew she had a preference for the oldest Weasley.

"Hey, and did you want to come home with us for the Christmas holidays? We'll ask about that too." George looked eager for her answer, but she shook her head.

"It would be better if I went home this year. But thanks, George."

He shrugged. "Maybe another time then."

Ari looked over her shoulder at her father, who was talking with Professor McGonagall. Maybe.

* * *

**A/N: I realize there hasn't been a whole lot of plot yet, but I'm still getting used to the characters. Next chapter will probably be focusing on Raleigh... and getting the twins and Ari off on some trouble-making adventure! **


	4. Trust and Mischief

Raleigh had never told anyone, not even Severus, but she often wondered what would happen when she died. She was imbued with many phoenix qualities, and some days she couldn't help but think she just might be reborn from her own ashes. It was a terrifying thought, one that she usually dismissed as impossible, but still, the worry crept into her thoughts when she wasn't expecting it, leaving her mind full of unanswered questions.

Life since the family move to Hogwarts had been simple, if uneventful, and for the most part Raleigh enjoyed the quiet life she and Severus led. She didn't have many friends left from her school days. Lily and James were dead, Frank and Alice Longbottom wouldn't remember her, Sirius was in Azkaban, and Remus…well, he was a part of her past that she would rather forget. It was too strange to try and be friends with the Hogwarts professors. She would never be able to call Dumbledore "Albus" or Professor McGonagall "Minerva." Really, the only people Raleigh had to talk to were Severus, and Rosmerta in Hogsmeade when life called for a drink.

And there were the house elves. Raleigh loved their squeaky voices and their enthusiasm for their work. They were happy. She wished she could be happy. She was a first-rate witch with extraordinary powers that no other person in the magical world possessed. She was the mother of a nearly perfect daughter, and she was pretty much free to do as she pleased. Still, the things she truly wanted seemed to remain out of her reach...

Trust. Certainty. An utter and complete belief that Severus loved her.

She had had them once, back before she had found out the truth buried beneath all the lies he told. She had fully believed that he loved her, and not Lily. That he was fighting against evil, not serving You-Know-Who. That she came first in his life, and not at the end of the list.

_Feet stamped outside the door. A key turned in the lock. Raleigh looked up from the chair where she was reading and smiled at the darkly clothed man who came through the threshold._

"_You're home!" _

_Raleigh was delighted to see him. Severus was back for the first night in weeks. He had been away on urgent business for the Ministry. As tired and worn as he looked, she still thought him the handsomest wizard in the world._

_ "Yes," he replied quietly. "Where's Ariana?"_

_ The way he said it made her feel ill-at-ease. Like something was very, very wrong. She scrutinized his face and found nothing amiss._

_ "She's asleep in her room. Is everything all right?"_

_ Raleigh stood up and walked towards him, her heart sinking in her chest. Maybe she was just over-reacting. Fear had been her number one reaction for so long that it had become natural. In the two years since their graduation, not one day had passed without worrying that You-Know-Who was coming for them next. So many of her friends had died, and every day Severus made her sit at home with Ariana. Every day he made her swear to stay in the house and communicate with no one, not even her parents. He was the Secret Keeper, and that kept them safe. He told her that they could trust no one, that none of her friends from Hogwarts were safe to talk to. And Raleigh, as smart and brave as she was, believed his lies – the lies that left him free to serve Voldemort. Fear could do things to people that nothing else could, and if her life had turned out differently, if Raleigh had not fallen in love with Severus Snape, she very likely would have been providing the Order with unique services. And yet things had not turned out that way. Love had bound her to Severus, fear had blinded her, and she followed him without question. _

_ Sometimes she wanted so badly to disobey him and leave. She could simply apparate somewhere with Ariana and build a new life as muggles. It would have been possible. But the nights he did come home made her stay. He showed her time and again how he adored her, how he feared for their safety, and he promised her that he was doing everything he could to fight the Dark Lord. He made her believe that it was essential to remain hidden. When she fell asleep by his side, she trusted him completely._

_ And in one moment, it was all shattered._

_ "Severus, is everything all right?" she repeated._

_ His eyes flashed up to meet hers, and their darkness was hollow. Raleigh took a step back. She watched in disbelief as he pulled up the sleeve of his robe and stared at an impossible mark on his forearm. _His_ mark._

_ "Severus, no," she heard herself whisper. Her thoughts were racing._

_ "Raleigh, he is going to kill Lily." His voice was fast and high-pitched. "He is going to KILL the Potters and their newborn baby. I've begged him not to but Raleigh, he _knows_. He knows about you and Ariana. I don't know how he found out but he knows. If I do anything to protect Lily I would be putting you both at risk."_

_ Raleigh was on the floor now. Her knees had buckled but she was barely aware of the weight of her body. She thought she must be crying because she was tasting salt. Everything was broken. Nothing was real. A series of faces entered her mind. Severus. Ariana. Lily Potter. And a friend… a friend she could trust.  
_

_ Raleigh lifted her head and looked her husband in the eyes. The hatred that now burned inside of her was close to consuming her. She felt like she might be insane. _

_ "You'll choose Lily. No matter the risk to us, you'll choose to try and save Lily." Her voice didn't sound like her own. It sounded harsh, angry, ashy._

_ "Good-bye, Severus."_

_ Then she let the flames erupt around her and stood upstairs in Ariana's room. "Come on, darling. Mummy and Ari have to leave now." She picked up the little girl and held her tight. She heard Severus' anguished scream tear through the house._

_ "Good-bye," she whispered. And they were gone, leaving behind a single red feather on Ariana's pillow. _

They had gone to Remus Lupin's. He had been the one person left that she thought might take them in and hide them until… well, she hadn't known until when. It had been the right place to go. In the year or so that they stayed with him he had grown to dote on her child. He had been gentle, understanding, and calm. At least when he knew they were looking. Once she had seen him smash his fist into a wall before he quickly repaired it with his wand. The man had been angry for her, and she loved him for that.

Her own anger at Severus had turned to self-loathing almost overnight. She was angry with herself for believing him, and more than that, angry at herself for all the wasted years. Years that she could have been helping the Order, fighting in the war, doing anything except sitting in an empty house waiting for him to come home. She felt pathetic.

Remus had helped take away most of the self-directed hate. He had brushed her hair, dried her tears, and sweetened her lips with the taste of his own. He had helped her return to life, to give birth to a new self from the ashes of the old. He had reminded her that fear does terrible things to a person, and so too could love. Remus Lupin knew all about secrets.

He told her that the Order had tried to find her, tried to contact her, but it had been as if she had disappeared. He told her they had all been worried, knowing what Snape was. Lily had guessed, or even known. But the marriage had been so quick, there had been no time to warn her, and afterwards she had disappeared. Raleigh felt endlessly stupid. Severus had made a fool of her... But Remus made her feel real again, like a person capable of living, like a woman with a brain and a body. The deep scratches that his fingernails left on her back were proof of how very real she was to him. The nights she spent in Remus' bed were as concretely physical as she needed. And where his animal instincts left their mark on her back, the fire of her passion left handprints burned into the skin of his chest and the skin of his back.

No one told her that Severus had switched sides; in fact, most members of the Order hardly knew themselves. She didn't find out until later that he had gone to Dumbledore and become a double agent. For the duration of the war Raleigh and Ariana stayed in hiding, and she trusted Remus to keep their location a secret. She worried for his safety, worried about Severus, worried about the Potters, who Remus assured her were in hiding.

Voldemort was defeated more than a year after Raleigh had left Severus. That night she had slept alone, her body paralyzed by the loss. She and Remus were both devastated by the death of James and Lily, but they willingly celebrated the demise of the Dark Lord. In the weeks after, when she was busy brewing wolfsbane for Remus or watching him read Ariana a book while the little girl sat nestled in his lap, she almost forgot about Severus Snape.

The night he found her in bed with Remus Lupin had very nearly completed any sort of revenge she might have felt the need to take.

"Raleigh?"

She turned towards the voice, lifting her eyes from the watercolor she was painting by their fireplace. Painting always left her mind at liberty to sort through her memories.

"Mmm?" she replied.

"Do you think we ought to get Ariana a broom for Christmas? She suddenly seems very interested in Quidditch."

She loved Severus' voice, loved its depth and its tone. He came over and rested a hand on her shoulder. "That's a lovely picture. The headmaster will want it for his collection." Raleigh pressed her cheek against his hand, blending her warmth with his chill. It was a painting of Hagrid's hut, one of many sites around the castle that she had painted for Dumbledore's office.

"I think a broom might be all right," she murmured, kissing his knuckles and smiling when he moved around the chair to kneel in front of her. "She is, after all, a Gryffindor. She deserves a prize for getting into such a splendid House."

Severus looked affronted for only a moment before he realized that she was teasing. He grinned and cuffed her cheek.

"I love you," he said when she caught his hand in hers. She met his eyes and wished with all her might that she could trust those words.

"I love you, too," she whispered.

For the second time that day, she wondered what would happen when she died. It was only a guess, but she rather believed that she might find herself reborn. It had happened a few times already, albeit figuratively, but still, she wondered.

* * *

Fred and George Weasley had stolen something.

Ariana wasn't pleased with them, but she _was_ curious, and coincidentally rather impressed. They had discovered a rare piece of parchment during one of their ventures in Filch's office, and just like him, Fred had nicked it on their way out, after being rescued by none other than her own father. Perhaps it was Ariana's influence, but on that particular day he had seen fit to tell Filch to let them go, merely taking five points from Gryffindor and sending them on their way.

When the three of them had first looked at it, the stolen object had appeared to be merely a parchment that insulted its readers by name. It had called Fred stupid, George a git, and Ariana too bloody smart for any ten year old.

But time and effort had revealed something else entirely. The twins had arrived beside her armchair in the Common Room with grins on their faces the following evening.

"We," Fred began.

"Have discovered a valuable item. One that even you can't say no to," George finished.

They produced the parchment, pulled out their wands and said "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

Writing began to appear on the paper, informing Ariana that Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs proudly presented the Marauder's Map. When she opened the pages she found her jaw dropping. It revealed everything imaginable about Hogwarts. Who was where, what they were doing, secret passageways, classrooms, and corridors.

"Wow. I wonder who the Marauder's were," she mused aloud.

"Dunno, but we're bloody grateful," Fred announced.

The three friends watched the activities on the map for nearly an hour, commenting every so often on what someone was doing. Finally, Fred could stand it no longer and insisted that they follow one of the secret passages.

"Fred, it's too late. I'm tired," Ariana said in protest.

Both of the twins had opened their mouths to argue when they heard footsteps on the stairs. "Mischief managed," Fred whispered just before Bill Weasley entered the room.

"You all are up rather late," he said, and Ariana felt herself blushing when his eyes fell on her.

"We were studying. Big Potions essay due tomorrow," she lied casually.

Bill glanced down at the empty parchment on the table where they had been sitting. He raised an eyebrow. "Looks like you got a lot of work done."

"Well, you see, Bill," George began.

"We were just…" Fred continued.

"Trying out a spell for erasing parts of essays that needed to be rewritten. But it went a little wrong and erased the whole essay. All three of them," Ariana finished.

The twins looked at her gratefully, but she could see the hint of a grin in Fred's eyes.

Bill smiled. He wasn't a fool. He knew they hadn't been working on Potions, but he was willing to let it go. "All right then, get to bed."

They exchanged looks. George grabbed the empty map, and they separated on the stairs.

"Night, Ari," the boys chorused.

She looked at Bill, feeling again the magnitude of her crush. "Night, Weasleys."

* * *

**If you're reading, please review! It helps motivate me to post more chapters :)**


	5. Butterflies and Broomsticks

_Severus fidgeted a little in his seat. Transfiguration should have been over five minutes ago, but Professor McGonagall had insisted that they all stay until every last student had transformed a hedgehog into a pincushion. His pincushion was green with purple polka dots, but it was a pincushion nonetheless. He was ready to go._

_ He was supposed to be meeting Raleigh to study for next week's Potions exam. He started tapping his wand on the table, his eyes fixed on the one sorry fifth year whose pincushion insisted on wiggling its nose and blinking its beady eyes. Finally, McGonagall deducted ten points from Slytherin and let them go. Severus raced out of the classroom, his dingy school robes flying out behind him. _

_ "Look, there goes Snivellus, seems like he's about to turn into a bat and fly away!"_

_ He heard James' voice taunting as he sprinted by, but for once he ignored it completely. Tonight he wasn't going to let anything get in the way. He increased his speed as he turned down a quiet corridor. Everything about tonight depended on getting there before Raleigh did. _

_ Severus scooted to a halt outside the door of an empty classroom and peeked in. No sign of Raleigh. He breathed a sigh of relief and slipped inside, shutting the door gently behind him. He took a deep breath and pulled out his wand. After a few moments of intricate spell-work, everything was ready. He positioned himself to the left side of the doorway and waited._

_ Last week something extraordinary had happened. On Thursday evening, right as he and Raleigh had been leaving the library to go to dinner, she had pulled him aside and kissed him. No one had ever kissed Severus Snape, and he was so taken by surprise that he allowed every mental fantasy to take over and imagined that it was Lily Evans who had so eagerly grabbed his face and fit her lips over his. Naturally, he had kissed her back. It had lasted barely ten seconds, but when Lily's hands had released him and he had opened his eyes, he realized that it was Raleigh…_Raleigh.

_He had shot away in shock, as if some master puppeteer had pulled his strings to attention. She'd smiled shyly, and he had been stupid enough to gape at her and then run for it. He thanked Merlin that he hadn't accidentally called her Lily. She would have never spoken to him again. When she didn't show up to dinner, he had grown worried. He asked Alice to deliver a note to her, and the round-faced girl kindly agreed._

_ Raleigh had replied to the note with a simple "okay." She would meet him to study the following Monday. It had been a long weekend, but he was determined to make it up to her._

_ The doorknob turned. He held his breath. _

_ Raleigh walked in with a look of puzzlement on her face. Severus flicked his wand towards the ceiling and a crowd of tiny paper butterflies fluttered down to greet her. She smiled, and then her gray eyes lit up as they turned into real butterflies, their tiny white wings opening and closing as they perched all over her head and shoulders. He flicked his wand again and the classroom lit up with tiny magical lights that sparkled on every surface of the room._

_ "Severus?" she asked curiously._

_ He stepped out from behind her, taking her by the hand and spinning her to face him, all of the butterflies taking flight and dissolving into a shower of sparkles that landed in her silver hair and on her cheeks, making her glow. She was beautiful._

_ "Hi," he said shyly, suddenly aware of how close they were standing. _

_ "Hi," she replied, a blush creeping up her face. For the first time he realized how much shorter she was than him. Most of the time he just assumed she was tall. She seemed like she should have been tall. _

_ "I'm sorry about before," he said, "I'm sorry I ran away."_

_ She shook her head, sending a shower of pixie dust into the air. "It's okay. I shouldn't have been so impulsive. That's not really like me."_

_ He let his hand find its way to her face, let the pad of his thumb trail across her cheek through the dusting of sparkles. "This isn't really like me either," he murmured, his voice deepening to almost a growl. He bent his head and pressed his lips to hers, surprised when they opened to the touch. He fit his lips between hers a few times before growing braver. She sighed when he traced her bottom lip with the tip of his tongue, and the sound of her sigh was enough to embolden him further, tangling his long fingers in her silvery smooth hair and pulling her body to meet his. When his tongue rushed into her mouth she responded in kind, her small hands reaching up to stroke his cheeks. As their kiss deepened he felt her fingers grow warmer, and suddenly he reared back in pain, clutching his left cheek._

_ Raleigh's eyes flew open and she stared at him. "What is it? Did I bite you?" she asked quickly. He shook his head and pulled his hand away. There were four thin pink streaks running from the top of his cheek to the corner of his mouth. "Did I burn you?" she whispered._

_ "Not too badly. It only surprised me. Really, Raleigh. It's fine."_

_ She sank into a desk chair, her eyes on his cheek. "I guess I'll have to learn to control that," she murmured to herself. Severus could only grin. Leave it to him to find a girl with phoenix traits. "It must concentrate in my hands," she said to herself, pressing her fingers to her own face. "They're warm still." Her eyes flicked up to meet his. "Although you look rather dashing, it doesn't seem to be any worse than a sunburn. It'll fade in a day or so. A bit different than a hickey don't you think?" she teased._

_ Severus smiled and touched his cheek again. He really did like Raleigh Malloy. _

_ And he hadn't once thought of Lily Evans._

_

* * *

_

"Merry Christmas, darling," Raleigh said when Ariana entered the living room, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Raleigh and Severus had gotten up early to make cocoa and stoke the fire. They had very nearly fallen asleep beside the Christmas tree before they heard the sounds of waking coming from Ariana's room.

"Merry Christmas, mum, dad." Ariana smiled brightly and hugged each parent in turn. She still hadn't asked them about the Quidditch World Cup, although she had told Lee to go ahead and order her a ticket. She had enough galleons saved away to buy it herself. The real problem was getting permission. She wondered if Fred and George had convinced their parents that Bill was a satisfactory chaperone for three underage wizards. They had all made getting parental consent their holiday mission.

"Well, go ahead, open your presents," Raleigh urged. She glanced over at Severus who took her hand. She smiled when she remembered last night's tattooing of pink lines all over his long, pale body. What use was a unique gift if she couldn't have a little fun with it? Severus had grown used to the burning pricks of her fingertips when they made love. He squeezed her hand as Ariana squealed with glee at the appearance of a brand-new broomstick beneath all the wrappings. Raleigh felt her hand warming simply from his touch. Simply from his touch…

"I _love_ it!" Ari was shrieking. Raleigh thought her daughter might have jumped on the broom and taken off just then, if it hadn't been for the small pile of other presents beneath the tree.

"I have something for you," Severus said quietly, his voice dropping to an even lower pitch as he reached into the pocket of his robes. Raleigh watched as he produced a small box covered in gold wrappings. "It's not much, but it's special to me," he murmured, brushing a few strands of hair behind her ear.

Raleigh carefully tore off the gold paper and found inside a box made of rosewood.

"Open it," Severus urged.

She lifted the lid and found inside a small pile of red phoenix feathers. Some were longer and stiffer than others, some were small and downy. "I don't understand," she murmured, looking up into his dark eyes. They were warmer than usual, and as she watched them crinkle she knew he was smiling.

"Every time you apparate, you leave a feather behind," he explained softly, brushing another hand through her hair, playing with the smooth silvery locks. "I collect them, if I'm around when you leave. Some are from good memories, others not so good." He lifted a very small feather, so soft that it might have been down from a baby bird, its color more pink than red. "This was from the night you left," he said, so quietly that she barely heard him. "And this one," he added, picking up another similar feather. "You apparated twice, if you remember. I guess they're so small because you felt so hurt," he choked on the words and Raleigh noticed tears in his eyes.

She swallowed, unsure what to say, but aware that she was incredibly touched. Yes, there were terrible memories in this rosewood box, but something about the gesture, the gift, made everything all right.

Ariana watched her parents quietly. They were caught in a moment all their own, and right now, they had eyes only for each other. She sat down on the floor and ran a hand along her new broomstick. A Cleansweep 7, perfect for a beginning flyer. Fred and George would be happy. She had also opened a new cauldron (hers had taken a turn for the worse during a certain difficult Potions class) and a pair of pearl earrings marked "From your father." Yes, it had been a lovely Christmas.

Anxious to try out her broom, but unwilling to interrupt her parents, she simply picked up the broomstick, dashed into her room, and threw open the big picture window beside her bookcase. She jumped on and took off into the cool morning air, her Christmasy-red pajamas billowing in the wind. Glorious… flying was glorious. Her blond hair whipped around her face and she wished she had thought to tie it up. Her fingers were already frozen, but it didn't matter. When she had had her fill of the sky, she tilted the broom earth-ward.

During her descent, she spied a tall figure wandering the grounds. As she got closer she realized that it was the Headmaster. Feeling cheery, she spend along until she was flying beside him. He didn't seem the least bit surprised to see her.

"Happy Christmas, Ariana," he said. Ari always loved how his voice caressed her name in a way that mixed love with sorrow.

"Happy Christmas, Professor," she replied. She hopped off her broom and walked beside him, her stocking feet getting instantly wet in the dusting of snow on the ground. Before she could even groan, Dumbledore had waved his wand and her feet were toasty, and wearing a pair of bright pink galoshes.

"I always did like pink galoshes," Dumbledore said and continued to walk. Ariana quickened her step to keep up with him. He was fast for an old wizard. They walked in silence for a while, listening the crunch of snow beneath their feet and the whispers of the wind around them.

"Are you enjoying Hogwarts?" he finally asked, folding his hands against his stomach.

"Yes, professor, very much."

"The Weasley twins aren't getting you into too much trouble, I hope?" he asked, the hint of a twinkle in his blue eyes.

"No sir, if anything I'm keeping them out of mischief," she answered.

"Good. Although I will say, a little mischief isn't always a bad thing."

Then his eyes grew serious, and he stopped walking altogether so that he could turn and look at her. "Ariana, do you know very much about your family, about the Potters, and Lord Voldemort?"

It was a strange question for Christmas morning, one she certainly wasn't expecting.

"I know a little, Professor. I know…" she stalled, trying to ignore the lump that had formed in her throat, "I know my dad was a Death Eater," she whispered. "But, he's changed. I mean, he was never mean to me. Never. I – "

He shushed her. "It's all right, my dear. I believe in your father completely. He is a good man who made some terrible choices, and he will spend the rest of his life working to forget them." Dumbledore paused, his gaze drifting away to the horizon. "But Ariana, it is very important that he does not forget. This is not over." He bent down and looked straight into her eyes, his nose almost touching hers. "The Dark Lord is not gone forever," he whispered. "I want you to learn more, learn all that you can about the First War." He sighed, "for someday it will be called the _First_ War. Be brave, Ariana. Do not be afraid to ask hard questions. And when Harry Potter comes to Hogwarts in a few years…"

"Harry Potter!" she exclaimed in surprise.

"Yes, when he arrives, I want you to be ready for all that is to come."

Ariana was puzzled, but she nodded. "Yes, Professor Dumbledore."

He smiled and straightened up, continuing to walk as though nothing strange had happened.

"Tell your mum and dad Happy Christmas," he said. She took that as her cue to depart, and jumping astride her new broom, she headed home.


	6. Pajamas

"Wake up, sleepyhead." A hand smoothed his hair back from his forehead, a pair of lips pressed against his temple. "Wake up, Sev," the same voice murmured. He didn't open his eyes, but he did allow a small smile to creep onto his lips. Only one person was allowed to call him Sev. Anyone else and they would have been hexed on the spot.

He stretched beneath the sheets, spreading his fingers and toes as he did so. He felt rather like a cat. For a moment he wondered if they ought to get a cat. Would Raleigh like that? Maybe she would have liked that better than the Christmas present he had given her. Although, she did seem rather pleased with the box. The rosewood box of precious feathers.

Fingers on his stomach. Tickling fingers. He groaned, then jolted awake. He _hated_ to be tickled. It made him laugh, made him feel ridiculous, and it really was unbearable.

"Ha!" a voice exclaimed, victorious. He opened his eyes and found himself staring at Raleigh, who sat straddling his lower body with her fists pumping the air. Her tank top (he loved how well muggle clothes fit her slim frame) had ridden up, revealing a sliver of smooth ivory skin. He lunged forward and grabbed her by the waist, pulling her down on top of him and tickling her in return, enjoying the way she shrieked in protest and wiggled around, trying to escape his grasp.

He knew she couldn't. He was too strong, and she was too incapacitated by the tickling. She was doubled up with laughter, trying to pry his fingers from her skin.

"Stop! Stop!" she shrieked through her laughing. "You are stabbing me with your fingers!" Finally he let her go, let her collapse on top of him, her head resting in the crook of his neck. He wrapped his arms around her back and reached up beneath her tank, rubbing his palms across the smooth skin of her lower back.

"Stabbing you with my fingers, huh?" he growled, kissing the top of her head.

"Yes, your stabby fingers were going to puncture my abdomen and then where would we be?" She lifted her body a little, propping herself up so that she could kiss him.

"I would have healed you instantly and then gone right back to tickling you with my stabby fingers."

She chuckled and he reveled in the feel of her breasts pressing up against his bare chest. He let one hand run up into her hair. "Never cut your hair," he said, burying his nose in the skin of her neck and breathing deeply. "You just wouldn't be the same without all this silver growing out of your scalp."

She laughed again, which had been the goal. "Don't worry. I'll never cut my hair," she whispered, slipping off him so that she could cuddle against his side. Her slim fingers trailed across his chest, playing with the thin layer of dark hair that covered his pale skin and the faint pink lines that remained from their Christmas Eve antics.

He turned his head and met her eyes. The pools of gray only added to her uniqueness, only enhanced her strange silvery-blond appearance that made her seem far more magical than the fact that she could cast spells with a wand. Days like today made him wonder how he had ever won her back, how she had ever agreed to return to him when she could have had someone like Remus Lupin.

Of course, Severus didn't know how anyone could be happy with a _werewolf_, but he did know that Remus was solid, gentle, loyal, _good_. He hadn't been able to say the same for himself, not for a long while, perhaps not ever. He still wasn't sure that he could call himself good. And yet he had Raleigh. He had done everything wrong, and still she had come back.

He stroked her cheek and held her gaze, watched as she smiled softly and let her features relax. He leaned towards her and pressed his lips softly against hers. He knew that despite the passion they could bring to their relationship, Raleigh liked nothing more than to have him be tender. She had told him once that it made her feel special, the way he was so cold and brusque with everyone but her. She said it was like she knew the secret Severus Snape, and only she had seen him when he wasn't scowling or frowning or deducting points from unruly students. Well, she and Ariana. With them he could be gentle, he could smile or laugh. With them, he could let down some of his walls.

"So, um, Severus," she had pulled away a little, had dropped her eyes, was biting on her bottom lip. "Ariana wanted me to ask you, well, she wanted me to ask if you might consider something. Something that you probably won't want to consider."

He raised an eyebrow and lifted her chin with his index finger. "You don't have to be afraid to look me in the eye, even if you think I'll be unhappy," he murmured. He never wanted her to be afraid of him again.

Her face turned a light shade of pink and she smoothed his hair again.

"Ariana wants to go to the Quidditch World Cup this summer. In Paris."

Heat flooded his body, the worry already coursing through his bloodstream. He had to remind himself to breath. This was utterly crazy. His eleven year old daughter. In France. Seeing athletes fly around on broomsticks. No.

"No."

The answer was no. Not his daughter. Not without him. And he certainly wasn't going to go. Certainly not.

"Severus, she's been invited by those Weasley kids that she's friends with. The ones with all the brothers. The oldest brother, he's Head Boy. He's said he'll take them, look out for them."

"No."

"He's of age. He's an excellent wizard. I've seen him with the younger students. He's a good influence. She's said some of her other friends are going. Lee Something-or-other and Angelina, that nice girl in Gryffindor."

"Lee Jordan and the Weasley twins are trouble-makers. I've had them in Potions. They are in part responsible for Ariana's recent cauldron mishap. They may be good boys, but they aren't harmless. No one who makes that much mischief is going to Paris with my daughter."

"But Angelina…"

"Angelina Johnson is a nice girl, I will grant you that. But she's just one more for Bill Weasley to have to keep track of. One more to gang up on him until they all slip through his fingers. No, Raleigh. No."

"Arthur and Molly have approved it. They're proud of Bill. They trust him. At least that's what Ariana said. I can send them an owl, check everything out. Consider it for Ari's birthday, Severus. She'll be eleven on New Year's Eve. Wouldn't it be nice to tell her yes for her birthday?"

He got out of the bed, still trying to calm himself down. Remus Lupin would be calm about this, he reasoned. Raleigh had liked Remus Lupin. More than seven years later and he still couldn't get over how much he _wasn't_ like Remus Lupin.

Raleigh followed him out of the bed, stood behind him, rested a hand on his bare shoulder, waited. He turned, watched her eyes follow the line of his stomach down to his "pajama" pants, she called them – another muggle thing of hers. He watched her smile to herself. He knew how much she liked him in the pajamas, knew that she liked the way they rode low on his thin hips, dangerously low. He found himself smirking. He had gone from livid to smirking in just thirty seconds.

She should have been a Slytherin, with that kind of cunning. She would play him all the way to Paris. She stepped closer and rested her hands on his hips, stood on her tiptoes and breathed her warm breath into his ear. "We could go along, you know, secretly. Keep an eye on her without her thinking we are. I've always wanted to see Paris," she whispered.

Merlin's beard, he would let her win in the end. Not always, but this time.

He picked her up and set her on his desk, the neatly organized desk that sat by the fireplace, by Raleigh's rocking chair, in their cozy little room. He sat her on the desk and kissed her – thoroughly. He let his tongue linger, waited for her hands to heat up, let his mouth make love to her lips, let her leave singe marks on the back of his pajamas. He even let a whole stack of Potions essays fall behind the desk.

It was all worth it, to see the look of bliss that covered her features. To know that verbalizing the word "yes" would have paled in comparison to the very non-verbal assent he had been able to give her.

"I love you," he whispered softly, kissed her cheek, and went to the wardrobe to get dressed. He thought perhaps he might wear the dark blue robes today. He just wasn't in the right mood for black…

* * *

"They said YES!" Ariana shrieked, running into the Great Hall during breakfast and throwing her arms around the first red-haired boy she came to. It happened to be Fred.

"They said yes?" he repeated, trying to eat a donut and hug her at the same time.

"YES!" She felt like dancing. A weekend with Bill Weasley. In Paris. With _Bill_…

Fred smiled. "It's good to see you, by the way. I hope you had a nice holiday and a happy birthday."

She nodded, still grinning with the thrill of her victorious news. "I also got a Cleansweep for Christmas. I think I wrote you about that."

Fred's expression clouded, but only slightly. He gestured for her to sit down between himself and George. "We got your owl," he said, lowering his voice once they were seated. "We already knew, we were watching the map on Christmas morning, just for a bit. Waiting for Mum to finish the sausages."

"We saw you flying, and then…talking to Dumbledore!" George exclaimed as softly as possible, unable to contain it any longer.

"Why didn't you write about _that_?" Fred said, his voice slightly upset.

Ariana had no idea that there would have been any reason to tell the twins about her conversation with the Headmaster. She wasn't sure that it was anyone else's business. She was still rather puzzled by the assignment he had given her.

"You were watching me?" she retorted, trying to sound as peeved as possible.

"We were bored, Ari. Percy was droning on and on about some Ministry debacle and Dad was telling Ginny about this muggle thing called a watering can and well, we couldn't help ourselves." George at least had the grace to look embarrassed.

Ariana sighed and decided to forgive them. "Okay, okay, but I still don't see why you're so upset about Professor Dumbledore talking to me. He's known me since I was four. Since I moved here."

"So what did you talk about?" Fred asked, genuinely curious.

"How school was going. How you two had better not get me into trouble," she teased.

"Merlin! We'd never!" Fred said, trying to look offended.

Ariana glanced around at the rest of the table. No one was paying them any mind. Maybe it would be okay. Maybe Dumbledore had mentioned the twins as a way of saying it would be okay to enlist their help. She lowered her voice as much as she could.

"Fred, George, he wants me to learn stuff. About the war, and You-Know-Who, and about Harry Potter."

"Harry Potter!" George exclaimed quietly.

"Shhh. Yeah, that's what I said. He said Harry will be a student here in a few years, and we have to, you know, be ready."

"Ready for what?" Fred asked, looking more serious than she had ever seen him look before.

"Ready for all that is to come, Dumbledore said."

"I think he's mental," George whispered.

Ariana shook her head. "No, just rather cryptic. He seems to think…" she cut herself off, unsure if she had already said too much.

"Think what, Ari?"

She took the plunge. She would need help. "He seems to think that You-Know-Who isn't really gone. That someday he'll be back. Somehow Harry is important."

The twins leaned back and scratched their heads, both looking as puzzled as she felt.

"Well, I'm not much for research. But I'll help."

"Me too," George said.

"Thanks, boys. For now, we just need to make it until the summer. Quidditch World Cup, here we come!"

All three cheered. Bill waved at her from the end of the table and she waved back, feeling her face heat up. Yes, there was something about Weasley boys. Weasley men, she corrected, as Bill threw her a wink.

* * *

**A/N: I know, so much fluff. Ah, well. Severus Snape is my guilty pleasure.**


	7. Loyalty

_She was gone. _

_ For a moment, when he was bending to pick up the feather that was lying on the floor, he forgot that Lily Potter was in danger. For a moment, the only thing that registered was the fact that Raleigh was gone._

_ Severus let out a scream, one meant to convey all the frustration, fear, and pain that he felt in that moment. The Dark Lord was going to kill Lily, and Raleigh was gone. _

_He had always hated himself, beginning with his loathsome childhood in Spinner's End and continuing into the years he had spent envying the Gryffindor gang that Lily belonged to, known only to them as Snivellus. He even hated himself up until the moment he had obliviated Raleigh on their wedding night – when she had caught a glimpse of the mark on his arm. _

_ After that, he'd just let everything go empty. No more hate. No more anything, just his Master, and his secret family that he tried to keep ignorant of his servitude. The nights that he was able to come home he buried himself in Raleigh, using the smell of her skin and the touch of her hair to make him forget, even just for an hour, the weight of his world._

_ But now everything had changed. Several months ago he had overheard a prophecy, and now it was spelling out death for his beloved Lily. He had tried to plead with the Dark Lord, tried to convince him that it wasn't necessary, but his Master had merely hissed, and whispered a few choice words about Raleigh and Ariana that had made his blood run cold. _

_ He had apparated home before another word could be said, but he was afraid. Dreadfully afraid. He considered going to Dumbledore, telling him what he knew and begging for his help. He would find a way to prove to Dumbledore that he could be trusted, he would protect Lily, and then he would go in search of Raleigh. He hoped she had gone somewhere safe, because his only goal became to save Lily, no matter the cost to anyone else. Even himself._

_

* * *

_

It was cold out, and it looked like it might snow. Severus was in no mood to be at a Quidditch match, even if it was Slytherin versus Gryffindor. He muttered a warming charm and sat a bit straighter. Where was that damn snitch and why wouldn't the Seeker just catch it?

A body dumped itself into the empty seat beside him. There was always an empty seat beside him. "Um, excuse me, Professor Snape?"

Severus turned his head and glanced at the man now sitting to his left. The man was small, well, smaller than him, sported a tiny beard, and was dressed in his finest robes, in this weather. Really, who did he think he was?

"I'm Wendall Scrood, Department of Magical Creatures. The Minister sent me."

"And what, pray tell, does the Minister want with me?" he asked snobbishly, shoving the warning voice deep into the recesses of his mind.

"Well, not you, Professor. It's your wife, actually."

Severus should have expected as much. The Ministry of Magic wanted nothing to do with a former Death Eater who had kept his wife and child hidden away for nearly three years. No, they would want Raleigh, no doubt for some rather sinister purpose. He had never thought highly of Fudge, and he wasn't about to do so now.

"Well, as you can see, Mister Scrood, I am not my wife, nor is she with me. If you would kindly leave me to the Quidditch match I would be most gr—"

"Professor, this is very important. I was told that if I wanted to speak with Mrs. Snape I needed to go through you. I haven't the first idea where to find her. She won't answer my owls and neither will her father. It's really quite urgent."

Severus frowned. What could the Ministry want with Raleigh that would involve her father? He straightened a bit more, the warning voice growing, refusing to be pushed away.

Department of Magical Creatures…

Severus caught his breath. Suppose they knew. Suppose they were interested in keeping tabs on the only witch in Britain, and perhaps the world, who had unmatchable apparition skills. Who could apparate anywhere – into high security vaults at Gringotts, into cells at Azkaban, into the Minister's office.

Suppose they knew what had happened at St. Mungo's all those years ago.

Raleigh had insisted back when it all began that the healers had no idea the sorts of side effects that she had discovered. They knew that she could burst into flame – the first time it had happened had been accidental. But she had been certain that they had no idea about the phoenix travel – the apparating. Suppose they had guessed…

She had promised him that the St. Mungo's healers would never try it again. In fact, she had been certain of the fact simply because they didn't have any more tears. All the ingredients had been used on her. The phoenix that had shed tears for her had done so only after Raleigh looked it in the eyes. Raleigh had always said it was as if the bird knew that there was no other way to save her from the mysterious illness that had spread through her body that summer. That phoenix had come and gone from St. Mungo's just as it pleased, arriving a few weeks before she did and departing as soon as it was clear she had recovered. The potions experimenters had been delighted to test the new substance in their potion, but they had no control over the accessibility of ingredients.

Phoenixes were extremely rare creatures in the Wizarding World. They were virtually immortal, bursting into flames on Burning Days and regenerating as a newborn chick from the ashes. They were even able to take the full hit of a Killing Curse and be reborn. Phoenix tears had healing powers, and the phoenix's song was said to strike fear into the hearts of evil. Phoenixes were extremely loyal, and very hard to domesticate. Fawkes was the only phoenix Severus had ever known to become a familiar to a wizard. Perhaps there were others, but he wasn't certain.

He resisted the urge to smile. It seemed that Raleigh had domesticated herself for him. He had never really thought about it, but he remembered reading once that phoenix tail feathers were golden, and hot to the touch. He assumed that was where Raleigh got the warm hands from. Phoenixes were also known to leave behind single feathers when they departed, just like Raleigh.

Yes, there were many similarities, but there was no reason to see Raleigh as a threat. No reason to believe that she was immortal. Of course, they had never tried to find out if she could come back from death, but that was impossible. Really.

"Urgent or not, if my wife does not wish to speak with you, I suggest you move on."

"Shall I try your daughter then?"

Anger flared. How dare he involve Ariana in this? The man was positively mad.

He shoved his face right in front of Mr. Scrood's and scowled, lowering his voice to a growl. "If you go near my daughter, I will personally see you ruined."

The well-dressed wizard merely leaned back and smirked. Smirked. At Severus Snape.

"We'll see about that, Professor. Good day."

Severus took some satisfaction in the fact that the small man scurried away like an unwanted pest. Then, as soon as the man was out of eyesight, he left his seat, going straight to the one wizard who could put a stop to this whole mess, that is, if his assumptions were right, and they usually were. He was an exceptional spy.

Ask he moved up the tiered seating towards the Headmaster he glanced over his shoulder at the Gryffindor section. Ariana was there with the Weasley twins, cheering on her team. For now, she was safe. He doubted the little Ministry wizard would approach her in this crowd.

"Headmaster, I have a matter of some urgency that I would like to discuss with you," he murmured when he had reached Dumbledore.

"Are you concerned that your House is losing the match, Severus?"

He had to admit, the old wizard could be quite trying.

"Merlin's beard, do you really think I would come all this way just to complain about the Quidditch match?" he said in his most snarky voice.

The Headmaster didn't respond, his eyes following the Gryffindor Seeker, Charlie Weasley, as he sped towards a small, winged, golden ball. Severus watched as the young man's fingers curled around the snitch. Relief. The game was over.

"Gryffindor wins!" the announcer's voice shouted.

"All right, Severus. Let's go."

Calm as ever, Dumbledore rose from his seat.

Severus was glad to have Dumbledore on his side. This time, he was going to protect his family. There would be no more risks to their safety. Not like the last time. He wouldn't let Raleigh run, wouldn't pick up another feather off the ground and wish he didn't love Lily Potter. No, he loved his wife, and no Ministry crony was going to threaten her safety.

* * *

When the match was over Fred and George brought Ariana along when they went to congratulate their brother Charlie, the team's Captain and Seeker. Charlie was a sixth year, and he was broader and shorter than his brother Bill. Fred and George definitely resembled him.

The handful of times that she had met Charlie she had really liked him. He was what Fred and George called "the outdoorsy type" and focused his studies on Care of Magical Creatures. He laughed a lot and often made fun of Bill and Percy at mealtimes. She thought he might have joined them on their trip to the Quidditch World Cup, being such an excellent player himself, but instead he was spending the summer in Romania doing work with dragons.

The Gryffindor team had huddled just off the Quidditch pitch and were surrounded by a crowd of excited fans. It wasn't every year that Gryffindor managed to beat Slytherin. Fred and George muscled their way through the crowd, pulling Ariana along with them.

"Hi Charlie," she said shyly once they had reached him, "Nice game." The big red-haired boy suddenly pulled her into a hug. He was sweaty, and his scarlet Quidditch robes were scratchy, but she didn't mind so much. Somewhere in the recesses of her mind she imagined that it might make Bill jealous. Wherever he was.

"Hiya, kid. Some game, huh?" he said as he released her, her feet touching the ground again. "What do you think? When Fred and George try out next year are you going to join them?"

She hadn't really thought about it. She had just gotten her first broom after all.

"I hope you will," a new voice said from behind her. It was the team's Keeper, a third year named Oliver Wood. "We could use a few more girls on the team."

"It's really more Angelina's thing," Ariana started to protest, but Oliver, Charlie, Fred, and George all shushed her immediately.

"You should really think about it. Your mum was great back in the day," Oliver said, smiling. If she hadn't been so surprised by the words that had just come out of his mouth, she might have registered him as one of the cutest boys of her acquaintance.

"My mum?"

"Yeah, she played for two years. They called her The Inferno because she would randomly burst into flames every time she made a goal. She was a Chaser. Bloody brilliant, I heard," Charlie said.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she recalled her mum talking about Quidditch, brooms, quaffles, and scarlet robes, but Ariana had never really paid much mind. She hadn't cared about Quidditch until it involved spending a weekend in Paris with Bill Weasley. Flying lessons with Madame Hooch had been so basic, she had barely even lifted off the ground before Christmas. Of course, her first real flight had been wonderful. Maybe she would consider the team…

Her mum had played Quidditch for Gryffindor. With James Potter as Seeker. She really couldn't believe it.

* * *

_**Please review!**** Thanks for reading!**_


	8. Farewell

It was sort of weird going home, walking the familiar corridor towards her parents' furnished apartment in the Hogwarts dungeons. Her father hadn't been at dinner, or she would have just asked him about the Quidditch revelation from Charlie and Oliver, so Ariana had decided the easiest thing to do would be go straight to the source. She jiggled her key in the lock and pushed open the door.

"Mum! I'm home!" she called.

No answer. Ariana frowned. She probably wasn't with the house elves; dinner was over. Ariana supposed she could be down at Hogsmeade, visiting Madame Rosmerta. For that matter, Ariana wasn't sure where her dad could be either. Usually he was home in the evenings. It was possible he had detentions to oversee tonight, but something about the silence in the apartment made her think not.

Ari wasn't sure just why, but she still felt weird. Like something was off.

"Hello?" she called into the silence, just for good measure. She took a step further, peering through the open door into her parents' room. Nothing looked out of place. Ariana sighed. Everything was normal. Maybe her parents were out on a date or something. Relaxing, she headed to her own room, thinking she might pick up a few new quills as long as she was there.

"Maxwell, you haven't seen anything odd lately, have you? I've just got the shivers, you know?" She glanced at the large portrait hanging in the hallway, half expecting to find the old man asleep. Maxwell Evanwood, a former Potions master, had hung in the hallway to her room since she could remember, probably since they had moved to Hogwarts, and he could be jolly good company if she caught him in the right mood.

"Miss Ariana, you needn't worry. Nothing is amiss. Haven't seen your folks since this morning, but I reckon they're just staying busy. You ought to run along back to the Gryffindor tower. It's starting to get late."

"I will, soon as I pick up a few quills. Mine have gotten quite dull."

Maxwell chuckled. "Tell the Fat Lady hello. I might be up for a visit one of these days."

"You always say that, Maxwell, and you never go."

The portrait scratched his head and frowned. "Well, really, Ariana, you can't expect me to do everything."

She laughed, feeling better, and picked up a handful of new quills before heading out of the apartment. She was standing in the living room, considering writing her mother a note about all this Quidditch business, when a figure darkened the open doorway, the one that was her way out.

"Why, hello, you must be little Ariana."

The figure stepped into the room. He was a small wizard with a tiny beard, well-dressed in deep green robes and smiling.

"Who are you?" she asked, tightening her grasp on the wand in her sleeve.

"I was wondering if I might ask you a few questions. You see, I've been trying to get in touch with your mother and I haven't had much luck. I'm an old friend of hers, back before you were born. My name's Scrood."

Something about his smile bothered her, it brought back all the weird feelings she had just chased away. Something was a bit…off.

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you Mr. Scrood but I really need to be getting back to my dormitory. It's almost past curfew. Perhaps another time."

"Oh, it would only take a few minutes, Ariana." She realized that the tip of a wand was pointing out of his sleeve. Her hand felt sweaty on her own wand, the wand that had so joyously chosen her at Ollivander's this past summer. _Ash, chimera scale core, ten inches, bendy_.

She wasn't sure that a single spell was left in her brain. She started to move just as he yelled _Stupefy_! She dodged the spell and ran straight at him, kicking him in the stomach so that he crumpled forward and out of her way. Enjoying the resulting groan a bit more than she expected, Ariana ran. Heart pounding, she ran straight down the dungeon corridor and into a secret passageway that she, Fred, and George had discovered on the Marauder's map. Very grateful for their thieving ways, she sprinted further down the passageway, intending to go straight to Dumbledore. Straight to someone who might be able to make sense of what had just happened.

* * *

_A few hours earlier… _

"Severus, where is Raleigh now?" Dumbledore asked, still calm, as he and Severus walked up the frozen castle grounds away from the Quidditch pitch.

"I don't know, Headmaster. She usually spends her time in the kitchens with the house elves. She may be there."

"Describe Mr. Scrood to me once more please," Dumbledore said.

Severus was frustrated. He had already described the little wizard at least four times, and Dumbledore still hadn't said anything useful.

"Small, tiny beard, rather pointy features, deep green robes, almost like dress robes. Very out of place. Said he worked for the Department of Magical Creatures."

"Hmm. I shall send an owl to Cornelius, perhaps he can tell us more. Nowhere in my memories is a Wendall Scrood. Very odd. In the meantime, Severus, I suggest you track down your wife and let her know that the Ministry is looking for her. I dare say this whole thing may be quite innocent. Still, it does bother me to think that a Ministry worker is here without my permission. Yes, very odd."

As they reached the castle doors Dumbledore stopped and turned to Severus. A few third year students were milling about up ahead, but they were basically alone.

"Severus, your wife is a unique and rare person with a unique and rare gift. I see very little reason to worry about her. There is no way anyone could ever hope to capture her. No way anyone could harm her, short of killing her. She would always be one step ahead."

Severus felt his eyes widen despite himself. Kill her?

"You two must decide how to handle this on your own. I thank you for coming to me, and I will gather what information I can. Meantime, I bid you farewell."

Severus nodded, directing his steps towards the kitchens immediately, still feeling ill-at-ease. He couldn't shake what the disturbing little man had said about Ariana. Dumbledore had been right, Raleigh could take care of herself, but Ariana was a different story. No man should ever threaten an eleven year old girl.

Feeling the anger surge at the mere thought, he made rather an entrance into the kitchens. House elves scattered everywhere, their tiny voices all squeaking out apologies. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Raleigh, bent down and speaking with a crooked old elf. She was safe. Her long silver hair was tied back and her apron was covered in splotches of the evening's meal. She looked up and smiled at him. Severus rarely came down to the kitchens.

"I need to speak with you," he said. A few more elves squeaked at the sound of his voice.

She rose from where she had been kneeling and walked towards him, wiping her hands on the already dirty apron. "I'm just finishing a stew. Do you mind if we speak here?"

"No, this is important."

She merely nodded. "Perhaps in the storage closet then." She led him into a large cupboard filled with a variety of garden vegetables and grains. Severus shut the door and whispered, "_Muffliato_."

Raleigh smiled. "I always did enjoy that spell. One of your more brilliant, I think."

Severus did not smile. He was worried. "I didn't want little elf ears prying."

Her smile fell. "Those elves are my friends. They would never use information against me. Really, Severus. Whatever is the matter? Is Ariana alright?"

He heard the catch in her voice.

"Hush, Ariana is fine. It's just… have you heard from your father lately?"

"No, why?"

"Perhaps I am jumping to conclusions…"

"You never jump to conclusions…"

"Raleigh, I think the Ministry knows. About your powers."

Her eyes widened and for a moment he thought she was going to crumple at his feet. He pushed away memories of another time she had fallen apart at his news.

"But how? Severus, no one knows about the apparating apart from you, Ariana, and Dumbledore. Not even my father. Whatever possessed me to share it with you all those years ago I will never know. It is a dangerous secret, Severus. How can anyone have found out?"

"Perhaps they just guessed, Raleigh. I don't know!"

"Tell me everything."

He recounted the story in short order, having already told Dumbledore enough times.

Her face paled. "He threatened to go to Ariana?"

"Yes. But she's safe here at Hogwarts. Perfectly safe. He wouldn't dare."

Severus waited for the color to return to her cheeks, but it didn't. The smell of turnip hit him fiercely. He realized he was standing beside a large hanging turnip the size of Mrs. Norris.

"Severus, I have to leave. I have to try and figure this out. I think it would be better for you and Ariana if I wasn't at Hogwarts. I don't need you to be in danger because of me. The Ministry will keep coming back as long as they know I'm here. Dumbledore needs to be able to honestly tell them that I've left."

"Raleigh, don't be ridiculous. This is the safest place for all of us."

"No, you can tell them that I've gone on a trip. Tell them I've gone looking for potions ingredients in Africa. Whatever you need to do to get them off your back."

"I'll come with you." Severus felt everything slipping out of his control. Maybe it was all just a mistake. Maybe it was nothing.

"Don't be a fool, Severus," her voice was harsh. "You have to be here. Dumbledore needs you here. Once I've found a few things out, done some searching, then perhaps I can come home. I need to speak with my father."

"I can't let you go," he whispered. He had promised himself that he wouldn't let her run away again. He had promised himself that he would keep her safe this time. Severus reached out and pulled her into his arms. The scent of her hair canceled out the turnip smell. "I won't be able to sleep without you, Raleigh. I won't be able to sleep without the smell of your hair or the touch of your hands."

"My hair," she murmured, pulling away. "You have to cut my hair. I'll dye it. If I go to see my father I could be recognized. They could be watching the house. Severus, please."

He couldn't stand it. Her logical, urgent thinking. He couldn't believe that she would just pick up and leave. It was like she had been waiting for an excuse. Like she had known something like this could happen and was ready to just…leave. She was never supposed to leave again…

"Raleigh." His voice cracked. "Don't go."

"Cut my hair, Severus. Do it now. And if you have any polyjuice potion in your stores I might could take that as well."

He wanted to shake her. She wasn't realizing how this was affecting him. This sudden decision-making. They were supposed to decide things together. He wished he had never told her about Wendall Scrood. Wished he had never come down into this horrid kitchen.

"Why can't you come home at night? You could just apparate home. No one would see you. Please don't leave."

He realized he was begging, whining.

"Severus, if my hand wasn't red-hot right now I would slap you. This isn't easy for me, you know. If I can come and see you sometimes I will, but this is bigger than you and me. This includes Ariana, and my family. I have to make sure they're safe, Severus. And you have to stay here. Now cut my hair."

He pulled out his wand and pointed it at her. She laid a hand on his arm. "Would you do it the muggle way? With real scissors?"

He transfigured a cucumber into a pair of scissors and picked up her ponytail. He almost felt her wince at the sound of the first cut. Her entire ponytail came off in his hands. Angry, he threw it to the ground and started hacking at the rest of her hair. He would cut it until it was all gone. Until he couldn't remember that he had ever seen such silvery beautiful hair.

Eventually she told him to stop. She reached up her wand and murmured a spell quietly. Her hair turned black, and the results of all his angry chopping straightened up into a simple pixie cut. She looked at him then, tears in her eyes.

"I'll miss you, Severus," she whispered. And she was gone. He bent down and picked up the long red feather from the floor, the floor that was strewn with silvery hair. He knew he would find another one in his potions storage closet. He rose and used a charm to sweep up all the hair into a single pile. He thought for a moment about keeping it, but the anger took over and he watched it blaze instead. Someone would pay. He just didn't know who.


	9. New Friends, Old Family

The corridors felt colder, darker. Ariana was shivering as she ran, the knowledge that she had narrowly escaped goodness knows what still churning in her stomach. She blew around a corner and ran smack into another body.

"Wotcher, kid. In a bit of a hurry there, huh?"

Ariana looked up into a smiling face and a head of bubblegum pink hair.

"Um, I need to find Professor Dumbledore," she said, breathless from her sprint through Hogwarts.

"Well, come on, I'll walk with you. I've been to his office loads of times. Always seem to be getting into trouble, ya know?" The pink-haired girl winked and started off in the direction Ari had been running. "I'm Tonks, by the way."

"Ariana."

Ari was feeling better, safer. Something about this girl was comforting.

"Are you a first year?" Tonks asked. "I'm a sixth year, Hufflepuff."

"Yeah, I'm in Gryffindor. You've probably run into my friends, Fred and George Weasley. I'm pretty sure they've pranked everyone in the whole school."

Tonks chuckled. "Yeah, they got my Charms class by magicking the chalkboard to erase as soon as a word was written. Flitwick couldn't believe that when he finished writing out a set of instructions he had only an empty board."

Ariana remembered hearing about that one. She laughed too.

"So what's got you heading to the Headmaster's in such a rush? Shouldn't you be heading back to the dormitories?"

Ariana had almost forgotten her earlier mishap, so safe had she felt with Tonks by her side. She fell into a stream of words. "I went to see my mum, but she wasn't there. No one was. And then there was this man –"

"All right, slow down. Maybe this oughtta wait for Dumbledore after all. We're almost there." They walked in silence until Tonks let out a loud _Ouch!_ She had almost tripped over the ugly gargoyle statue that concealed the entrance to Dumbledore's office. "It's okay, Ari, just stubbed my toe. Now let me see, I was here last week and the password was _Butterbeer_. I wonder if it still is…"

It hadn't seemed to work, but lucky for Ariana her father came striding around a corner, his dark robes catching the air as he walked.

"Dad!" she exclaimed, happy to see that he was okay. His expression was clouded and she immediately sensed Tonks' confusion. She had failed to mention her last name to the friendly girl…

"Ariana, good. Well, let's go up then." He seemed not to have noticed Tonks. Normally he would have scolded them both for not being in their dormitories this late, but he merely looked at the gargoyle and said, "Skittles."

Before Ariana had a chance to wonder what skittles were, she and Tonks were following her father up a winding staircase. Something was definitely wrong.

* * *

Severus had frightened an entire kitchen of house elves by bursting violently out of the cupboard, but it didn't matter. As he walked to find Dumbledore, his mind had locked away every fear, every ounce of feeling that he had for Raleigh. He focused only on finding out exactly what was going on. He was grateful for Occlumency, grateful for the peace it afforded him when he could cordon off parts of his mind. He couldn't be missing her now.

Dumbledore. Maybe Dumbledore would have the answers. Severus eventually took notice of the two girls following him up the stairs. One was Ariana, the other he recognized as one of the Black family, Andromeda's half-blood daughter. The metamorphmagus. He had taught her in countless Potions classes but had never fully appreciated her until now. She was with Ariana, that meant Ari was safe. She had been with the Black girl. That was good.

Dumbledore was waiting for him, a letter in his hand. An owl was on the desk, pattering around looking for something to nibble on.

"Cornelius wrote back," the silver-haired wizard said softly.

"And?" Severus' voice was clipped, insistent. He wished the damn owl would stop clicking her talons around on the desk.

"He wrote that no one by the name of Wendall Scrood works for the Ministry."

Severus heard a small gasp from behind him, but he tried to keep his focus on the words.

"Then who was he? Why did he lie?" He wished he had used Legilimency on the man when he had had the chance.

"I'm afraid I don't have the answers, Severus."

Severus remained very still, his face a mask. He tried to think of a next move, tried to debate if it was okay to let Raleigh continue on her own.

"Professor Dumbledore, that man, Mr. Scrood. He was in my parents' apartment."

Both he and Dumbledore fixed their attention on Ariana. Severus rarely saw the old wizard's face grow so dismayed.

"Tell us everything, Ariana."

Severus listened as she recounted her recent escape, closing off feelings as they came, erecting walls that would keep him from the fear, protect him from the animal instinct to hunt the man down and rip him to shreds for coming near his daughter.

Dumbledore spoke first. "We'll conduct a search of the school. We'll make sure every student is in their dormitories. Nymphadora, will you please escort Ariana to the Gryffindor tower?"

The pink-haired girl looked a bit shocked by the news she had just heard, but she nodded and turned to leave.

"Dad, everything's going to be okay, right?"

Severus heard his daughter's voice like it was coming through a vacuum.

"Everything will be fine." His words were terse, not at all the tone he normally took with her. She didn't seem comforted, but she went nevertheless.

"Raleigh's gone to look for answers," he told Dumbledore as soon as the door closed behind her. "She'll not rest until this has been solved, but she refuses to endanger us here. She's gone from Hogwarts."

"For now," Dumbledore added softly, patting Severus on the hand. "Go and assemble the other staff. Perhaps this Mr. Scrood is still on the premises."

* * *

The next few weeks were a blur for the two Snapes who remained at Hogwarts. The Hogwarts search had turned up nothing unusual. Mr. Scrood had not been found, even when Ariana and the Weasleys had tried to locate him on the Marauder's map. Her father had told her in a few short words that her mother had left for a while, and a subsequent visit to Dumbledore had further cleared up as much of the mystery as possible. Ariana thought she understood, but she remained worried. It was hard to keep her mother's secret when her friends prodded her with questions about that night, but eventually the excitement died down and talk had turned to other more mundane Hogwarts sorts of things.

Her circle of friends had grown to include not only the Weasley twins but Lee Jordan, Angelina Johnson, Oliver Wood, and occasionally Charlie Weasley and Tonks. She liked spending time with them, and they were all excellent Quidditch players. She was learning a lot. It kept her mind off wondering where her mum might be.

Ariana wished she was still around to ask her about Quidditch. She and the twins had looked her up in the Hogwarts records and found that she had been Gryffindor's highest scorer during the two years she was on the team. She had played alongside the famous James Potter and the more infamous Sirius Black.

Between Quidditch, classes, friends and worrying about where her mum was, Ariana only had a few hours a week to do the research Dumbledore had asked of her. She normally spent it in the library, reading books about the Wizarding War, He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, and the various dark deeds he had done. Usually the histories ended with a celebratory chapter on Harry Potter's mysterious vanquishing of the Dark Lord and a lament over the death of his beloved parents. Occasionally Ariana wondered where Harry might be now, what he might be doing and if he ever thought about You-Know-Who.

Severus hadn't quite been able to stop thinking about Voldemort since Raleigh had left. Somewhere in the back of his mind was a niggling feeling that somehow he was involved in all of this. Perhaps not directly, but somehow. He had taken the topic up with Dumbledore, who had tossed about a few ideas with Severus, but not enough to really go on. They had heard no more from Mr. Scrood, and Dumbledore was in the process of finding out any information about a man of that name.

Keeping Ariana safe had become his main objective, at least until he received news from Raleigh, so Severus spent a great deal of time adding to the protective spells that surrounded Hogwarts. They really should have been quite safe as it was, and he remained puzzled by how Mr. Scrood had been able to get inside the castle.

The only real explanation he could come up with was that the man had had inside help. That was terrifying enough in and of itself, and there were days when Severus had to fight with all his strength to keep from slipping Veritaserum into a few staff members drinks and questioning them. Dumbledore would never have allowed it. But still, he thought about it.

Three weeks. Raleigh had been gone – missing – absent – vanished for three weeks. He kept hoping for news, hoping for an owl. But one had not yet come.

* * *

It was quiet on Buckle Street. She thought it was probably because it was still winter. When the temperature warmed up people would be outside, mowing lawns, chatting over fences, gardening, playing. Today, it was quiet. The skies were a sort of dingy gray that spelled rain, not snow. The ground was frozen, the blades of grass crunchy beneath her boots. The sound of a car starting reached her ears just as she found herself at the end of a long sidewalk leading to a large front door. 17 Buckle St.

The heart of Muggle suburbia.

She swallowed and glanced around her for good measure. Her mother's hand-painted watering can sat at the foot of the front steps, peeling. Her father's car was parked in the driveway, a layer of frost on the hood. The front porch light was still on, even in the early morning. She thought perhaps someone had forgotten to turn it off last night.

It was quiet.

She hugged herself inside the Muggle coat she was wearing. She had been hiding out for three weeks, waiting a while. If anyone was watching her house, perhaps they would have grown impatient and left.

Her breath fogged in the air and she started the long trek up the sidewalk to the front door. The cold breeze blew against her scalp, and she wished she still had a full head of hair to shield her, instead of the short black prickles that remained.

Her hand reached out towards the door knocker, her fingers thin and pale. She had forgotten to buy gloves when she had bought the coat.

She knocked.

The door flew open instantly, and a familiar face grinned at her from inside. His eyes were bright, greedy, and his silvery, nearly white-blond hair had grown long since she had last seen him. Her blood ran cold. He shouldn't have been here. He _never_ came here. He should not have been answering the door. No. This was not what she had expected.

"Hello, little half-blood sister. I was wondering if you might stand at the end of the walk all morning. Do come in."

His silky voice was practically purring, but it was the light in his eyes that scared her. He was hungry for something. She could barely find her voice and she realized she was caught. She could apparate away the wizard way and then he wouldn't have confirmation about her phoenix powers. But if she left she might not get the answers she wanted. And she desperately wanted answers. She should have thought of this…

She stood a little straighter and met his eyes. "Hello, Lucius. How utterly delightful to find you here."

* * *

_Review please! pretty please?_


	10. Blood and Tears

_Raleigh couldn't believe she was actually at Hogwarts. She had heard her father mention it from time to time, how it was a place in the wizarding world where boys and girls went to study magic. She had always thought it sounded wonderful. When her letter had arrived she had been so excited, practically leaping into the car to go to Diagon Alley for a wand._

_ And now here she was, seated in the Hogwarts Great Hall surrounded by a crowd of Gryffindors and a table full of delicious food. _

_ "Hi, I'm Lily!" a bubbly voice said from across the table. _

_ Raleigh looked up to meet a pair of bright green eyes and a big smile._

_ "I'm Raleigh," she replied shyly._

_ "This is great isn't it?" Lily asked, her red hair bouncing as she spoke. "All this magic is so amazing. Severus told me it would be great, but this is beyond what I imagined. Isn't the Headmaster cool? I heard he's the greatest wizard of our time."_

_ Raleigh listened as Lily chatted, glad that the pretty girl didn't give her a lot of time to get a word in. She wasn't really sure how she would respond. Raleigh had always been shy, and this was nothing like school in the muggle world. These people all seemed to know so much more than she did. _

_ "Are you from a wizarding family?" Raleigh asked when she had a chance._

_ "Oh no," Lily replied, "I'm muggle-born, but my friend Severus' mum is a witch, and he told me all about magic. He's over there, at the Slytherin table." Lily turned and pointed behind her. Raleigh noticed that a dark haired boy with a hooked nose was staring intently at Lily, his dark eyes glittering. He kind of looked jealous, she thought. Her gaze drifted to a tall blond boy sitting beside him, clearly one of the older students. He seemed to feel her eyes on him, because he turned and met her gaze. His pale pointy face scowled and Raleigh looked down. _

_ "Are you okay?" Lily asked after she had waved to Severus and returned her attention to Raleigh. _

_ "Yeah, I'm good. Just a little overwhelmed. I'm muggle-born too," she added. _

_ Lily grinned. "Then I'm sure we'll be great friends."_

_ "Hey would you mind passing the pudding?" a soft voice asked from her right. _

_ "Sure," she said, reaching for the pudding dish and setting it in front of a sandy haired boy. "It's my favorite," she murmured, trying to be pleasant._

_ The quiet boy smiled. "Mine too. I'm Remus Lupin."_

_ "Raleigh Malloy, nice to meet you."_

_ "Did you say your last name is Malfoy?" A handsome dark haired boy asked from further down the table._

_ Raleigh furrowed her brow. "No, Malloy," she repeated, confused. _

_ The dark haired boy shrugged. "Oh, you look like you could be a Malfoy, that's all. I was beginning to think the Sorting Hat might've gone mad, putting a Black and a Malfoy in Gryffindor." He smiled. "I'm Sirius Black."_

_ Raleigh smiled back. "Pleasure."_

_

* * *

_

Lucius was standing by the fireplace, his ice blue eyes zeroed in on her face. Raleigh was seated in an armchair, her hands clasped tightly in her lap, her heart pounding.

"Lucius, really, tell me what you are doing here. Where are my mother and father?"

He ignored her questions. "Your nephew will be ten years old in June. Did you know that?"

Raleigh guessed she would have to play along before he would tell her anything she wanted to know. "Really, and how is Draco?"

Lucius' eyes flashed. "Like his father."

She nodded, meeting his gaze before she spoke her next words. "For his sake, I hope he's not like any of your family."

"Our family," he corrected.

She watched as he ran his long pale fingers along the mantelpiece, his back to her as he watched the fire. "Raleigh, do you recall the day we first met, the day Abraxas brought us together?"

Raleigh remembered. She remembered the strange day when two tall blond men had arrived on her doorstep. It was the summer after her third year at Hogwarts. The shorter of the two men she had recognized from school. He had just finished his seventh year, and every time he had seen her in the corridors or in the Great Hall he had scowled. She didn't like him. He was one of the students who had helped her to understand the darker traits of a Slytherin.

The two men had barged right into the house, wands out, and her parents had simply let them. That was the day she had learned the truth of her origins. A wizard by the name of Abraxas Malfoy was her true father. The man she called father was actually her uncle, Abraxas' younger brother, a squib called Marcus Malfoy.

When the brothers had been younger, their pureblood parents had discovered Marcus' lack of magic, and they had sent him to live in the muggle world, fearful that he would taint their high status. The young man had changed his name to Mark Malloy and had lived happily, attending medical school and building himself a good life apart from the world of magic. Meanwhile, his brother Abraxas had married and produced an heir, Lucius.

All this time, Abraxas had never been fully able to turn his back on his brother, and when Lucius was four years old, he had gone to visit Marcus in the muggle world. During the visit he had met a young woman named Clarice. Failing to tell her the truth of his life, he had an affair with the pretty muggle, something that would surely have shamed the family had anyone found out. When the young woman became pregnant, Abraxas had sent her to live with Mark, who eventually fell in love with Clarice and decided to marry her, revealing the whole story of the wizarding world and the Malfoy family. Mark became like a father to Raleigh, who was never told the origins of her birth. He decided to re-enter the wizarding world, so as to be ready when Raleigh showed signs of magic, and Abraxas had discreetly obtained him employment with St. Mungo's. After that, he had disappeared from their lives.

At least until that day, the day her father and half-brother had shown up and the secret had been revealed. Perhaps she might have never known, had Abraxas not felt it in his bones that he must stop by and meet his child. He had never been able to explain just why, but Raleigh always liked to imagine it was because he regretted giving her up, regretted disowning her because she was a half-blood.

Raleigh gathered her thoughts, her wand twitching in her hand as she contemplated escape, should things take a turn for the worse.

"I remember, Lucius. You were just as surprised as I was. I remember the look in your eyes when you learned you were related to a mudblood." Raleigh spit out the word with disgust, angry at her half-brother for his prejudice and his arrogance.

Her life had changed after that day. It had taken her a long time to trust her parents again, a long time to forgive them for keeping such secrets from her. Raleigh realized that she hadn't truly forgiven her father until after her illness. She had never spoken of her relationship to the Malfoys with anyone, not even Severus, and no one had ever guessed that the Mark Malloy who worked as a muggle liaison for St. Mungo's was the same Marcus Malfoy who had once been Abraxas' younger brother.

"Do you remember anything else about that visit? Think, Raleigh. What did our father say as we were leaving? What were his last words before we walked out the door?"

She searched her memories, trying to understand what Lucius might expect her to say.

"He said I was lucky my father worked for St. Mungo's…"

"Yes!" His eyes had the gleam in them again, the same gleam that they had had when he opened the door. "Yes, exactly. Do you know why he said that?"

"No. Should I?"

Lucius looked almost gleeful, like he was about to receive a present.

"It was because our father's sister, Livia, died when she was almost fifteen. She died from a mysterious illness that appeared suddenly and could not be cured. Our father's aunt had also died from a similar illness when she was fourteen. One that no one understood, no one could cure. Raleigh, it seems to run in our family, at least, the women in our family. And they all expected the same would happen to you."

"Only I survived," Raleigh murmured, almost to herself. She nearly felt like screaming. More secrets her father had kept, more things that he had not seen fit to tell her. If she had known she never would have -

She nearly choked on her next breath. She never would have had Ariana. The news was unbearable. Why wouldn't he have told her? Why would he have let her risk another life? She barely got the next words out, and when she did they sounded like a growl, like an animal.

"Where is he?"

Lucius simply laughed. He laughed.

Raleigh had her wand in his face before she could blink.

"_Where_?"

"Perhaps we can trade information," he said softly, and she felt the poke of a wand tip in the flesh of her abdomen. "You tell me all about how you survived. Phoenix tears was it, mmm? And I will tell you what I've done with your parents. You may, of course, decide what to do with them yourself."

"And why are you so interested, Lucius? What's in it for you? Do you have anything to do with a man called Wendall Scrood who has been lurking around Hogwarts uninvited, threatening my daughter?"

"Tut tut. You ask too many questions. We are, regrettably, family. You don't think I'd really try to hurt you, little sister?"

"You are capable of great evil, Lucius Malfoy, no matter what you claim. I know you served the Dark Lord willingly, no matter how you bribed the Ministry to think otherwise. I firmly believe you would hurt me if it helped you achieve whatever twisted ends you are seeking."

He leaned closer and breathed in her ear, whispered words that made her blood run cold as ice. "I want to test your mortality, sister. I want to see if you really have become a phoenix, like the doctors say. I have to know, you see. _Wendall_ and I must know. Perhaps we can start now, shall we?"

Tears were squeezing out of her eyes, try as she might to hold them back. She did not want to die. Perhaps if she apparated, perhaps she might be gone before the Killing Curse could hit her. Then something happened that surprised her. Lucius took a small step away and conjured a vial. He leaned close and caught two of her tears in the vial.

"Many thanks, mudblood. I think this time I shall let you live to see another day. Good-bye."

And he turned on the spot and was gone, leaving Raleigh in a weightless state of shock. She soon fainted, too overwhelmed to retain consciousness. It was the first time in Raleigh's life that she utterly regretted magic.

* * *

**A/N: Whew. I don't know why but this chapter took forever...probably because I wrote a whole chapter and then decided to erase it and start over. Hope you are intrigued... Thanks for reading!**


	11. Shifting Colors

He woke to the sound of an owl tapping outside his window. It was still dark. He groped around for his wand, hoping against hope that the owl brought good news.

"Lumos," Severus said into the darkness as he wiggled out of his tangled covers. Too excited to locate his slippers, his bare feet landed on an icy floor. It had snowed again yesterday, and the castle had acquired its normal winter chill. He threw open the window and closed his eyes against the blast of cold air that followed the owl inside. Before he could even shut the window, the owl was pecking at him, holding out her leg for him to take the letter.

"All right, all right," he grouched, removing the piece of parchment and then closing the window. Shivering, he started to open the letter, but the owl was still pecking at his hand. Grumbling, Severus marched into the kitchen, the owl fluttering behind, and found her a few mice in the freezer.

"It's the owlrey for you, soon as I read this," he told the pushy owl.

"Incendio," he said to the fireplace, and soon he was seated in front of a roaring fire, while the owl happily downed her mice. He unfolded the parchment and read:

_Severus,_

_ Raleigh is here with us for the time being. She's safe, just had a rather nasty shock when she arrived. I'm sure she will send you more information when she's feeling better. _

_ Tell Ariana we say hello._

_ Mark Malloy_

Severus scowled and crumpled the paper. A frustrating and cryptic message if there ever was one. What "nasty shock" had Raleigh had? "When she's feeling better"? What did that mean – that she was feeling poorly? Shame on Mark for giving him so little to go on.

Still agitated, he hastily scribbled a return note and gave it to the owl, who seemed to have calmed down. He felt a little bad for being grumpy with the poor bird.

"You can leave in the morning if you like, it's not urgent. Take this to Raleigh, please," he told the owl, trying to be nicer. She cooed, obviously grateful that he had fed her, and tucked her head under her wing for a snooze.

Severus was certain he would not fall asleep, so he got dressed and lit a candle to grade some Potions essays. He had tried not to worry, tried to push away the niggling thought that the Dark Lord had his hand in this. Although most of the wizarding world assumed that because of Harry Potter the Dark Lord was dead, Dumbledore thought differently. Severus had learned to believe him, learned to be on guard.

An information search on Wendall Scrood had turned up nothing. Strange. It was as though he existed outside of the Ministry. Dumbledore had sent his name to magical colleagues in other countries, but so far no one had been able to identify the man. Of course, aliases were not uncommon, and the little wizard with the beard could have been practically anyone. Severus couldn't help wondering what he might have done had he successfully stunned Ariana.

When he had finished marking up a particularly terrible essay, he leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. It was getting on towards dawn, and he would have done well to have gotten sleep. It's too late now, he thought. He contemplated asking Dumbledore if he might have leave to go and see Raleigh, but he could imagine her anger if he left Hogwarts to come see her. If she was with her parents she ought to be fine. Mark had said she was safe.

Then he had an idea. A rather excellent idea, in fact.

"Toddy?" he said softly into the silent room.

_Snap!_

A bright-eyed house elf stood on his desk, wearing a dishrag for clothes.

"Toddy, at your service, husband-of-Mrs. Snape."

He was shaking, probably because he was afraid Severus would yell at him. Toddy was one of Raleigh's favorites, a bright young house elf with a penchant for pastries.

"Thanks for coming, Toddy. I was wondering if you might help me with something, for my wife," he added, when the house elf's eyes widened.

"Yes, husband-of-Mrs. Snape. What shall I do?"

"I'd like you to visit my wife. She is at her parent's house on Buckle Street in Somerset. I'd just like for you to see if she is all right. Speak with her if you like and report back to me when you are done."

"Right away, sir."

And the little house elf was gone.

Severus wondered if it was perhaps a bit early in the day to send a messenger, but the deed was done. He dipped his quill in some more ink and started another essay, feeling a bit better than he had in days.

* * *

Ariana was sitting in the Common Room with Bill Weasley, trying hard to keep her focus while he talked. She had asked him to meet her after lunch so that she could question him about his memories of the War. Even though she had heard a lot from the Weasley family already – Charlie and Percy had been very informative and even Fred and George had a surprising amount of knowledge about the Dark Lord – she had wanted so desperately to have an excuse to talk to Bill, and now she had found it. She told him she was gathering information for an essay in History of Magic, and he had agreed.

Ariana refocused on what he was saying, trying not to think about the way his hair fell into his eyes.

"I was really only a boy while it was going on. Charlie and I were kept out of the way. We spent a lot of time at the Burrow. I remember we weren't allowed to practice flying because mum was afraid we would fly out of the protective enchantments. Dad was gone a lot, and mum sometimes too. We would get left with Auntie Muriel, and one time they had to leave us alone. I remember my brothers cried a lot. Percy and the twins were still so little they didn't really know what was going on, and Ron was still a baby when it ended."

"Bill, what kind of stories do you know about Harry Potter? My parents never really talk about him, and I guess I'm just curious. He's kind of a hero, isn't he? So why doesn't anyone know where he is?"

Bill smiled and leaned forward.

"I'm sure you've heard most of the stories. The typical Boy-Who-Lived stuff, right?"

Ariana nodded, suddenly curious. She hadn't really expected to learn anything new from Bill, just to sit back and enjoy the sound of his voice.

"Well, I once overheard my dad talking with my mum. He's really into muggle stuff, always trying to learn more about telephones and escalators, you know. Anyway, he told my mum that Sirius Black, that murderer in Azkaban, had an enchanted flying motorbike. He went on and on talking about how someday he would like to have a flying vehicle."

"What does a motorbike have to do with Harry Potter?"

"My dad went on to say that Hagrid borrowed the motorbike on the night You-Know-Who was defeated. He used it to take Harry somewhere safe."

Ariana let the implications set in. That meant that Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper, knew where Harry Potter lived. Or at least where he had been taken as a baby. He could still be there. She could pay a visit, see if there was anything special, anything she should know. Dumbledore had told her not to be afraid of asking hard questions. Perhaps the current whereabouts of a wizarding celebrity wasn't quite what he had meant, but it could be fun. The really tough questions would come later, when she had to talk to her parents, when she had to delve into her own past.

She had to go talk to Hagrid.

"Thanks, Bill. I guess I have enough stuff to finish my essay. I probably won't write about the motorbike though."

He chuckled. "No problem, kiddo. See you later."

Ariana watched him leave, wishing that she was just a few years older. He really was dreamy. As she rose to go in search of Hagrid, two red heads popped out of the portrait hole, and neither of them looked like they were up to any good.

"What's in the bag?" she asked.

They both jumped at the sound of her voice.

"Oh, Ari, it's only you," George said with relief. "We thought the Common Room was empty."

"You didn't answer my question," she said, walking towards them and reaching for the bag that Fred held close to his chest.

"Really, Ari. It's nothing, just some –"

He was cut off by a very loud and angry meow.

"Fred, if you have a cat in that bag I at least demand to know what you are planning to do with it."

The boys exchanged glances.

"Er, well, we're hiding it!" George said cheerfully.

"From Filch," Fred added, a hint of pride in his smile.

"You have Mrs. Norris in there?" Ariana could hardly believe it. They'd talked about cat-napping the darn thing for months, but she hadn't thought they would really be foolhardy enough to do it. If Filch ever found out they were dead men.

"Caught her with a can of sardines."

If it hadn't been quite so funny, Ariana might have been truly angry with them. Instead she laughed, enjoying the bemused looks on their silly faces.

"All right, all right. I won't scold you. But how about we dye her scarlet and then set her loose. Wouldn't that be better than trying to keep her in that bag? Her meowing is bound to alert all of Gryffindor to her presence."

Fred and George agreed, and the trio spent the next hour trying out spells to turn the scrawny cat a lovely shade of Gryffindor scarlet. When they had succeeded in turning her a sort of ever-changing wheel of colors, sort of like a string of Christmas lights, they gave up and let her go, watching her blink from green to purple to blue in quick succession. She meowed angrily at them when she couldn't get out the portrait hole, so Ariana went over to help, the poor cat narrowly missing getting her tail caught on the way out.

"Well I'd say that was a jolly good afternoon's work," Fred said happily.

"The afternoon's not over yet," Ari told them. "We have some research to do."

Fred and George groaned.

"Don't look so glum boys. It involves a visit to Hagrid and the potential discovery of where Harry Potter lives."

They looked eager now. "Ari, it's an hour til dinner. We'd better hurry." The twins grabbed her each by an arm and practically carried her out, grinning all the while.

* * *

The tiny bearded wizard in bright green robes sat stirring a cauldron, watching the potion churn and boil with the addition of each new ingredient. Every so often his eyes flicked over to the man whose basement he was using, the man who had successfully brought him the final ingredient and was now standing silently in the corner, his face even paler than usual.

His past attempts to acquire the essential substance had been failures, no thanks to a well-placed kick from a young girl and the non-compliance of an overprotective husband who had once been so loyal. Some wizards, he had learned, ranked family above self, a truly puzzling notion, one that had cost him dearly not even nine years ago.

He would not make the same mistake again, and thankfully the two wizards who were now serving him were not distracted by family. The pathetic little wizard who had allowed his soul to share his body, allowed him to look out on the world through his eyes, had lost his family to a coven of vampires in Albania. The terrified little man had been on the verge of suicide when He had found him, promised him power. Ardi Beqir had taken on the alias Wendall Scrood, and the Dark Lord had made great use of him.

"Bring me the vial," he said, wishing that it could have been his own voice coming out of the little Albanian's mouth. It had been easy, so easy to infiltrate his stupid mind, a few whispers to tell him what to do, where to go. If the little man had not regained some of his own senses enough to try and tell Lucius Malfoy what had happened he might not have been injured, might not have had to be taken to St. Mungo's. Oh, but he was glad of that; in the end it had been more than worth the trouble. St. Mungo's had been where he heard about the girl, the girl with phoenix powers. A few well placed imperius curses from the Albanian and the whole story had come out, even the potion's recipe. Of course, it had been something of a surprise to learn that it was Severus' wife. He had assumed that would make it easy, but he had been wrong. Perhaps if he had revealed himself to Severus it might have gone differently, but no matter.

It had been less than a month before he acquired the final ingredient. Yes, even the clever Slytherin Malfoy had come through, and he was at last on the cusp of true immortality. He simply had to be, with all the powers of a phoenix at his fingertips. This had to be it, the way to regain his physical body, this simply _had_ to be the answer. He had had enough of being a shadow in the forests of Albania, enough of playing parasite to a host of snakes and now this fool.

"My Lord," Lucius said, holding out the vial to his master.

He heard the hiss as the precious drops hit the surface of the potion.

"It's ready."

* * *

_A/N: Okay, so I realize that my use of Mr. Scrood is a bit different than how Voldemort made use of Quirrell (which he will in due time), but bear with me. Weak minds, yes, they certainly are a problem for the good guys. Thanks for reading!_


	12. Stained Hearts

Raleigh lay in bed. The bed she had slept in all through childhood. The bed that she had come home to on holidays from school. The bed she had crawled happily into the night Severus proposed. The bed she had left behind to become an adult. She was back.

It was as if she had slipped through a crack in time and become a child again. Her mother had brought her a glass of milk, tucked her under the covers and whispered good night. Raleigh hadn't even been able to form coherent words, hadn't been able to ask any questions, hadn't really been able to _think_ of any questions. If she had been able to think more clearly she would have recognized the problem as shock. The kind of shock that left people paralyzed and shivering, minds blank and emotions running so high they were hardly recognizable.

Sleep had come quickly once she was cocooned in the warm layer of blankets. She had simply drifted off in her childhood bed, thinking the cotton candy type thoughts of a child. Sleep first, then thinking.

* * *

_Things were not the same once she came home. Things with Severus were tentative, strained, perhaps even cold. Part of her regretted every touch, every kiss they had ever shared. She knew it now to be lies, lies he had told to keep her from asking questions. He had served the Dark Lord, and often she was unable to put that behind them. All the missing years… most days it was too much to forgive._

_ She had hurt him too, had meant to. He told her he had been searching for her, once the war was ended. Someone had finally tipped him off to Lupin. Finding her there, in the end, had been almost too much, certainly enough to break him. _

_Why they were both still here, both still trying, was practically incomprehensible. _

_Part of it seemed to be for Ariana, but wasn't some of it for them? Raleigh wanted to love him again, wanted to trust that he truly had changed. That was the reason she had been willing to leave Remus. The possibility that she still loved him, still belonged with him, had been enticing enough to bring her and their child home to Severus. _

_But months had passed, months spent avoiding one another, speaking tersely and only when necessary. Months spent tiptoeing around one another in the bathroom, turning away from one another in bed. For two people who had once been close friends, man and wife, it was strange. They didn't yell, didn't argue. They never discussed what had happened. It wasn't quite bottling it up, it was more like ignoring it, willing it into oblivion like it had never existed. When they spoke it was to discuss their daughter, perhaps to talk about the Ministry trials or the upcoming move to Hogwarts. So many topics were taboo, so many words painful to them both._

_They were living in a shadow, the shadow of dead people – Lily, Voldemort, countless other friends and classmates. It was a darkness that Raleigh had to escape, and she wanted to bring Severus with her._

"_Would you turn the light on, Severus?" Raleigh asked softly one night after dinner as the two of them sat reading in the den. As a child she had always wondered what wizards and witches must do with all the time they didn't have to spend cooking, washing dishes, and cleaning house. Now that she was a witch herself she found that she missed those mundane sorts of muggle things, and she often enjoyed cooking the muggle way and washing dishes herself. She supposed she could have waved her wand and murmured Lumos as the skies darkened, but these days she was tired of magic, and she would rather have Severus doing the wand waving. _

"_Lumos," he muttered, his deep voice casting the spell with a tone of longing. They could both use a lumos charm on their own lives._

"_Thanks, Sev," Raleigh said, dropping her gaze to the book in her lap._

_Suddenly his book slapped shut and he rose from the chair beside her._

"_Why bother, Raleigh? Why bother with this ridiculous charade?" he said, his voice raised and his face turning a bright shade of pink as the frustration boiled to the surface at last. "We sit here day in and day out, barely speaking, waiting around like things might miraculously change. Did you even _want_ to come back? Most days I find that you must have rather stayed with Lupin!"_

"_Is that what you believe?" she found herself yelling back, reveling in the first real connection they had made since the night she had left him. "That I would rather be with_ him_?"_

"_It's easy enough," he spat. "I saw the way he looks at you, the way you look at him. Old friends, is it? Or was it old lovers?"_

"_Severus Snape that is utter nonsense! RJ and I were never lovers! Well, at least not until this past year. And that ended when I agreed to come home with you."_

_He smirked then, the same old smirk that had defined their banter for over a decade._

_She found her voice again quickly enough, armed with her own ammunition. "You lied to me for nearly three years! Am I just supposed to forgive and forget that? Forget what you were, who your master was?" She threw the words into his face and watched as he paled. She grabbed hold of his wrist and turned up the Dark mark on his arm. "Am I supposed to forget this is here?" she practically shrieked. His hand twitched, and she wondered for a moment if he was going to slap her. Instead his shoulders slumped and his dark eyes grew cloudy.  
_

"_Enough," he said, his voice tired. For the first time Raleigh realized how thin he was, how sunken his once endearing face had become. Severus had never been handsome, but he had been hers. And for whatever reason, he still wanted to be hers. The fact that he had asked her to come home was proof of that. _

_Later that night Raleigh slipped out of bed, wrapped a sheet around her and left the house. Their backyard had just enough space for a small fish pond, and she seated herself on its edge, letting her fingers dip in the pool of water below. She found herself wishing that hearts were like clothing. She wanted to take hers and wash it clean in the water, wanted to take a brush and scrub its surface until it shone again, without the black stains of the past clinging to it. There was so much that needed to be washed away._

_A crunch on the gravel made her look up, her eyes fighting to see in the darkness where the moonbeams were not shining. Severus materialized out of the shadows by the house and walked towards her. Raleigh rose from her spot, but stumbled backwards at the intense look in his eyes, nearly losing her balance. Instead, strong hands steadied her, and Severus pulled her forward and into his arms. _

"_The moonlight becomes you," he said softly, his voice rumbling in his chest. Raleigh began to ache, remembering just how long it had been since she had stood this close to him. She allowed herself to sink into his embrace, pressing her cheek against the soft fabric of his shirt. She felt safe, folded against his warm chest, the only sound their mingled breathing and beating hearts. Despite herself, she let his presence give her hope. _

_When he loosened his embrace she leaned away and looked up into his eyes, glad to find that they were not distant the way they had been for weeks on end. _

"_Do you still want me?" he whispered, letting his fingers trace shapes on her cheek. "Even after all I have done? Even with this?" He held up his arm, the moonlight catching on the dark stain that had changed everything. Raleigh gently lowered his arm and threaded her fingers through his. He had done nothing but lie to her for so long, but ever since he had lost Lily she was inclined to listen, at least to hear him out without dismissing his words as false, as she might have done had he not come looking for her, holding a note from Dumbledore and a silver-petaled rose.  
_

"_I wouldn't be here if I didn't, Severus," she murmured, drawing close again and letting her hand trail from his chest into his hair. It had been so long since she had allowed herself to touch his hair. He breathed softly in her ear, then let his lips skate across her cheek to rest a hairsbreadth from her own. He simply breathed in the air that she breathed out, bringing back a longing that she had almost forgotten. _

_Then he pulled away and she felt like she was being shattered all over again. It wasn't enough to come so close only to let him walk away. _

"_Severus, please," she whispered, and her voice sounded so pained that he slanted his mouth across hers and kissed her until she sighed with pleasure. They had not shared a kiss so full and perfect in many years. Raleigh felt the love growing in the pit of her stomach – as if she had swallowed a burning coal and allowed it to make its home inside her skin. _

_Severus felt the heat in her hands increasing, felt the throb of her desire and matched it with his own, lifting her small body into his arms and carrying her inside. Things would be different now, she thought. Somehow, with very few words, they had moved forward. The past would never leave them, but at least it was no longer the present. _

_

* * *

_"Mrs. Snape, wake up. Oh please wake up!"

A tiny voice was ringing in her ears, and every so often she felt a tiny hand shake her shoulder. She felt groggy, like she was coming back from a very long way away.

"Mmppfhl," she managed to mutter, and she tried very hard to stay conscious enough to open her heavy eyelids. When she could finally see, a pair of large brown eyes were blinking down into hers.

"Toddy!" she exclaimed in surprise and the little house elf took a few steps back and sat down hard, right on her stomach. Raleigh groaned.

"Toddy is sorry Mrs. Snape. Toddy did not mean to startle you, but Professor Snape sent me to check on you. I know it is still early. Toddy is a bad elf for waking you up."

"No, no," Raleigh said quickly, "It's all right, Toddy. I needed to wake up. Have my parents been in here?"

"No, Mrs. Snape. Toddy has seen no one. When he arrived you were fast asleep."

"Good. Now listen, you must return to my husband at once. Tell him that someone has taken my tears. Someone took them for Wendall Scrood. Can you remember that?"

"Yes."

"Okay, tell him that I will be home soon. Perhaps this afternoon. Tell him that I need to speak with my parents and then I will come home."

"Toddy will tell him, Mrs. Snape."

"And Toddy? Tell him he mustn't worry. He must not try and come here."

The house elf nodded and disappeared. Raleigh sighed deeply and leaned back into her pillow. She was fairly certain that even if Lucius had made off with her tears they would be of no use. They were shed in despair and fear, not with the intention of healing someone who deserved it, something that a heartless Malfoy would not understand. No, most likely they would be useless for achieving the sinister plot she had only begun to guess at. The important thing was to speak with her father, and then go straight to Dumbledore. She had to get out of here before Lucius came back for more. And she had to find out just whose side her parents were on. Only then could she begin to consider how she might tell Severus about her origins. She knew it would be a brutal conversation, one that would leave permanent stains...

* * *

Severus was puzzled by Toddy's news. The little house elf had reappeared not thirty minutes after he had sent him, and Toddy had reported that Raleigh was fine, that she would be home before nightfall. That was a relief. He couldn't wait to hold her in his arms and breathe in her familiar smell. But this business about her tears. It was odd, and it spoke of far stranger things than he had been imagining during the weeks she had been gone. No, this business was far from over, even if Raleigh had decided to return.

And who was the "someone" that had caused her the trouble? Severus had questioned Toddy thoroughly, but the frightened elf simply repeated that Mrs. Snape had not told him who and that he had not asked. Still mulling over the new information, Severus palmed the long red feather Raleigh had left behind on the cupboard floor. Laced through it was a single silver hair. Severus stroked it with his thumb and felt the ache of her absence.

He had awoken every day for nearly eight years to the dull, ever-present pain of missing Lily Evans. He found that it was much more acute to miss Raleigh, who since those days had earned a very different sort of love than what he felt for dear, dead Lily Potter.

* * *

_Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays!_


	13. Father & Daughter

Toddy had just left when Raleigh's father appeared in the doorway. Mark was a tall man with a shock of dark hair that gave no hint of balding or graying and a well-trimmed beard that spoke highly of the well-trimmed man. He had always been warm with his daughter, and he had wished for more children, or rather, a child of his own flesh. Overall, he was pleased with his life. Mark liked being able to straddle the gap between the magic world and the muggle world, and he did it well.

"You're awake," he said from the doorway. "I'm glad to see you're all right. You gave Mother quite a scare."

"How was I when you found me?" she asked, her voice sharp and cold, her gray eyes watching him closely from the confines of the bed. He knew she would have her wand in hand. It was strange to feel that his daughter saw him as an enemy.

"You were unconscious. I carried you up the stairs and put you in bed. You woke then, screaming, and Mother gave you some milk with a sleeping draught and you drifted right off. You slept all day and all night. I sent word to Severus."

"Did you let Lucius in?" The words were biting, spoken with the intent to wound.

Mark remained in the doorway, his eyes wandering to the flowery wallpaper that decorated his little girl's room. Her tea set still sat in one corner beside her doll cradle and rocking horse. His wife Clarice had brought out the old toys for Ariana one summer and there they had remained, gathering dust.

"Perhaps we ought to discuss this in a little while. You should have something to eat. Then meet me outside. I'm going to wash the car."

"It's the middle of February!" Raleigh protested, but Mark merely nodded and turned to go. "Dad, please!" he heard her call, but he did not stop. She would either come or disapparate, and he thought she would rather get answers than run.

He strode out onto the front steps and into the yard, uncovering the garden hose from beneath a pile of snow. He scrounged around for a bucket and some rags, sure that Raleigh would come out, sure that she would know just the warming charm to defrost the car and unfreeze the hose.

Washing his car had always been a sort of ritual between the father and daughter. For as long as he could remember, Raleigh had loved to join him as he scrubbed away the grime of the road. She had giggled in the spray of the hose, chased after him with her hands covered in soap suds. And when they sat down to work, each scrubbing at a hubcap, they had talked. He had no doubt in his mind that today would be the just same. There was much to say.

She came out the door just a few minutes later, a scowl on her face.

"Now be a good girl and cast a warming charm for us, Raleigh," Mark said, fighting to get through her thick skin, to push past the firmly set frown on her pretty face. He hardly recognized her what with the choppy black spikes of her hair and the anger in her eyes.

She rolled her eyes and murmured a spell. Mark instantly felt the air around him grow warmer, saw the frost on his car begin to bead into tiny drops of water. He turned on the hose and started to spray the car. Raleigh folded her arms against her chest and stared. Eventually he threw her a rag and she sat down, looking for all the world like a petulant child. She understood the ritual just as well as he did.

"All right, go ahead," he said, his eyes fixed on the greasy wheel before him.

"Why didn't you ever tell me the illness runs in the family?" he heard her whisper.

"Would you tell a child that around age fifteen she might die?" he replied.

He felt her gaze boring into him, but he did not look away from his work.

"I did not die," she said softly. "But you might have told me then, spared me the tears that will fall for Ariana."

Mark had known that was coming. Lucius had promised him that such words would come, once he had backed his uncle into a corner and demanded that he be allowed to wait for Raleigh. Lucius knew too much, Mark had realized. Family secrets had come to haunt him once again. He had expected the poison in her speech and the venom in her eyes.

Mark knew his daughter had no fear for herself. So long as she could disappear in an instant, she was invincible. There were no chains that could hold her. For years Mark had wondered what other phoenix powers Raleigh might have, and when his granddaughter was still young, she had off hand mentioned that she had seen her mum turn into fire and disappear. Ariana had been too small to realize her error, and they had been alone, but Mark had understood.

He had kept the information to himself, guessing correctly that his daughter could apparate at will, much like the phoenix from which she had received such powers. It was an extraordinary gift, one that he knew left his daughter with no worries for her own safety. Her fears were for her child, for her husband.

"Who am I to stop you from bringing life into the world?" he said, at last turning his head so that he could meet her gaze. "How am I to know that it will be the same with Ariana? We still don't know - the illness may pass her by now that you've been cured."

"And if it doesn't?" she growled.

Mark did not have an answer for that.

"Tell me why Lucius was here, lying in wait for me like a tiger stalks its prey."

Mark rubbed at an achy muscle in his arm. He was getting too old to be scrubbing at dirt.

"Your mother and I were held at the point of his wand the moment he came through the door. He locked us away in the attic and waited for you. That was not a betrayal from us."

Her eyes narrowed. "He used your secrets against me. He used my anger and hurt to make me cry. If you had just told me, if I had known that Ari might be in danger –"

"Hush, stop that right now. What's done is done."

"No!" she shrieked, throwing the rag she held into the bucket and watching the soapy water splash out onto the pavement. "There's something you're still not telling me. I can hear it in the way you answer my questions, like you've practiced, like you've crafted the words with extra special care. What are you leaving out? What is being left unsaid?"

Mark scratched his beard and leaned back a little so the morning sunshine would fall on his face. "I haven't painted the whole picture, have I?" he murmured, wishing he had his pipe.

Before he could react Raleigh had her wand at his throat. He had underestimated her anger and her desperation, but he could see them now in her eyes. He had thought to ease into the truth, to paint a sugary icing over the brick that was his secret, so that a bite into it might at least taste sweet, even if it broke teeth.

"Tell me everything you know, or I swear I will do something _unforgivable_," she said through gritted teeth, and he didn't doubt her. "Lucius had more in his eyes than danger. I saw greed there, and a sort of elation as he told me what you had kept from me. He knew just what that information would do, and he was excited about the results. I want to know where that greed came from. Tell me."

Mark licked his lips, fighting to keep his composure. Wands made him nervous.

"Last month I met a man. His name was Wendall Scrood." He paused to watch the information sink in. Yes, Raleigh recognized the name. "He arrived here at our door and Lucius was at his side. They were asking about you. I, of course, inquired why they did not just go to Hogwarts and speak to you, but Wendall shook his head and simply said: 'Not yet.' Then they held a wand to my face, as you are now, and demanded to know if the rumors were true. If you really had become a phoenix."

"You could have warned me," she practically snarled, and Mark wished with all his might that he could turn back the sands of time and do so. He was not a bad father.

"I told them no. That you were perfectly normal and such rumors spring up from false waters. I told Lucius to mind his own business, and they left. I should have written you, but I didn't. For that I am sorry. Lucius returned about a fortnight ago and held us captive in the house, waiting for you. He brought up the illness – I suppose Abraxas told him. He brought up the phoenix stuff again. Raleigh, he told me that he was going to use my secrets to break you. He so desperately wanted to make you cry."

"Well it worked," his daughter said, beginning to lower her wand. "Perhaps you are beginning to see that families shouldn't keep secrets, eh Dad?"

Mark couldn't help himself. The words left his mouth before he could think. "The way you keep yours from Severus?"

He thought for a moment that she might hit him, but she merely pursed her lips.

"Once upon a time I loved you like nothing else in the world. I thought you were the best of men and the best of fathers. A tiny corner of my heart still allows those thoughts. I still love you. But you are not a good man. You are a Malfoy through and through, and you kept an important secret from me. Twice. And I had to hear the truth from someone else. Twice. For that I find it hard to forgive you, as much as the child in me wishes to do so."

Mark felt the damage of her words in his heart like a worm chewing through an apple.

"I am sorry, but there is more. And it won't be easy to hear. I wish I did not have to be the one to tell you."

Her brow furrowed. "I requested that you tell me everything," she said simply.

Mark stood up, dusting off his jeans. Raleigh rose as well, her eyes not leaving his face.

"Wendall Scrood is Lucius' master."

"I gathered that they were working together."

Mark shook his head. "No, Raleigh. Scrood is his _master_. His only master."

Her mouth formed the name but could not say it, and Mark watched as her eyes grew wide. She was not so much a fool to think he was truly gone, but the truth had not yet crept all the way into her consciousness. Not until now.

"Lucius wanted my tears for You-Know-Who?" she whispered, the color draining from her face.

"Lucius bragged about it while he held us captive. He's taking them to the Dark Lord to create a potion like the one used to heal you. He intended that I should tell you, once he made off with his prize. He intended that we should all know how we failed. How he won. I should have told you the moment you awoke, but I – "

Raleigh was shaking her head as if she was clearing out cobwebs. "I must go to Dumbledore. Immediately. You and Mother must go somewhere safe. Why oh why did you take so long to tell me?"

Mark simply shoved his hands in his pockets. "There were things to say first. Things that were not easy to say. I wanted this little bit of time, before you found out."

"Nothing takes precedence over news of the Dark Lord! Not even my relationship with you. This was not the sort of information you get to decide what to do with." She pointed a finger in his face. "As hard as you try, you will never escape the Malfoy name. You are just as bad as the rest of them. Lying, hiding, manipulating. And I'm starting to be afraid I'll turn out just like you."

And she was gone.

* * *

"Severus!"

He heard her calling for him before he saw her. He upset his chair trying to get out of it and was running out the door as she was running in. Then she was in his arms, shedding tears as if there was no hope left in the world. He tried to kiss them away, tried to shush her gently, but she was practically inconsolable. He changed his tone from comforting to serious, and that seemed to get her attention.

"Raleigh, tell me what's going on. I was expecting you sooner, it's nearly dinner time."

"I just couldn't come home," she said through her tears. "I went to be alone. I thought – I thought that I should go straight to Dumbledore, but Severus I just _couldn't_. I'm a Malfoy, Severus. I'm a damn stinking Malfoy and I can't hide from it any longer."

His first reaction was confusion. What on earth was she saying and what did the Malfoys have to do with anything? He found only one word suitable as a response, and his lips released it slowly and deeply:

"Explain."

Raleigh clawed at her face, trying to wipe away her tears. "My father – my father is Abraxas Malfoy. Lucius is my half-brother. He was there, at my house, waiting – the damn Slytherin. And Voldemort!"

She was hysterical, and Severus couldn't believe the quick flurry of words that were coming out of her mouth. He hugged her close and let it all sink in. It made very little sense, and he could tell that parts of the story were missing, but he believed her, and it was okay. Yes, hearing the name Voldemort had sent a shock through his system, but he just held her, tried to still her trembling.

At last she seemed calm enough to speak, and she looked up into his eyes.

"We need to talk to Dumbledore. And Ariana should be there too. I have once again learned the power of secrets to tear one's heart like a knife in the dark. And I will have no more of them."

* * *

_A/N: Merry Christmas!_


	14. Mission

Severus Snape was standing silently outside of Malfoy Manor. It had been five days since Raleigh had arrived back at Hogwarts, and he was more than ready to finish this whole mess. His shock over the truth of her birth was almost completely negated by the danger she revealed to the three people she had once believed to be the only keepers of her secret. (Severus disdained to recall that a certain werewolf also knew).

Ariana had taken everything surprisingly well, in fact, Severus sort of got the idea that she had other things on her mind. She had never had any experience with the Malfoys, so it didn't seem all that terrible to her that she was related to them. As far as the possibility of an incurable illness arriving in her future, she had merely shrugged. Severus had been a parent for just over eleven years, and he still didn't know what a shrug indicated. He hoped they would find the time to really talk about it when all this was over.

Dumbledore had been quite intrigued by everything, but Severus had failed to perceive even a hint of panic in his calm blue eyes. By the time Raleigh came to the news from her father about Wendall Scrood and his dark intentions, Dumbledore had merely nodded.

"_Yes, I just received an owl yesterday telling me that one Wendall Scrood had been a patient at St. Mungo's last month with a rather nasty head wound. He was there for a few days, and the malady report shows that he was hexed. The healer who wrote to me said that he asked a lot of questions about a girl rumored to have phoenix powers. Now, ordinarily I would not have connected this event with Lord Voldemort, but the fact that Mr. Scrood came to Severus lying about working for the Ministry and later threatened Ariana led me to believe that he was a foe of the darker variety. I am glad to know that Lucius couldn't keep himself from gloating, so now we can be certain that it is Lord Voldemort making use of one Wendall Scrood, and that his objective is restoration and immortality through the use of phoenix tears."_

_Raleigh stopped him at this point. "Headmaster, I wonder if you might consider this. Should a phoenix choose to shed tears for a human, it is for the purpose of healing someone, shall we say, deserving. Now, I've thought it over, and it seems to me that one, I am not fully phoenix, I am also a witch, and two, I cried because I was afraid. I feel like both of those things are working against him. There is no reason to believe the tears Lucius stole were magical."_

_Dumbledore smiled. "Very good, my dear. Voldemort does not understand love, so he cannot understand what makes a phoenix show such loyalty and devotion to another. He would be blinded by the mere thought that he could be healed and restored to a physical body. He has spent nearly ten years existing as merely a spirit, and I am rather surprised that this is the first we have heard from him, despite the fact that most of the wizarding world believes him to be dead. The prospect of immortality is merely the icing on the cake, if you'll pardon the expression. And there is one more thing. If, by some chance this potion did work, I think we would have heard something by now."_

"_You mean you think _I _would have heard something by now," Severus said, baring his arm to show the Dark mark._

_Dumbledore nodded. "Raleigh, it is safe to assume that your mother and father know the certainty of your apparition powers, even if you have never used it in front of them. However, I think it is also safe to say that no one else knows anything except a rumor, a possibility. The St. Mungo's healers, Lucius, Voldemort, they are only going on hearsay. They believe that if you can summon a blaze at will, you must also be able to do everything else. We could go in and wipe memories, but that is not a thing to do lightly. My suggestion is to go on ignoring it as you always have done, and no one will be the wiser. _

_ "As for the possession of Wendall Scrood by Lord Voldemort, I think I shall send Severus to deal with that." He turned next to Ariana, who had been listening silently to the whole exchange. "My dear, I feel we are wasting precious time and that you would like to rejoin Fred and George Weasley, am I right?"_

_ Ariana blinked rapidly and spoke. "Yes, Professor."_

_ "Good, good," he said with a smile. "I am glad you three went to see Hagrid today. I hope your future actions will be just as excellent." He winked. "Do not worry about a thing, your parents will see all this aright."_

_ "Yes, Professor."_

_ Severus watched his daughter leave with a bounce in her step. Yes, curious how everything had seemed to slide right off her back. He turned to Albus Dumbledore._

_ "Now what is it you would have me do?"_

Severus pulled the invisibility cloak a little tighter. It certainly wasn't much for warmth, but he was glad that Dumbledore had trusted him enough to loan the precious object. This was not an endeavor to be taken lightly. He had slipped past the Manor's various protective enchantments easily enough, but he did not want to be seen. Dumbledore had insisted that Voldemort have no idea that it was Severus Snape who had come to cast him out.

"Damn winter weather," he muttered under his breath, still scanning the walkway for any sign of visitors coming through the gate. Draco's tutor came every morning at eleven, and it was already a quarter past. Where was the man?

But he came along soon enough, a rather stately sort of fellow, certainly good enough for the high and mighty Malfoys. "Stupefy," Severus whispered, and the fellow crumpled to the ground a few feet away. Quick as a flash, Severus pulled out a few of the man's hairs and scattered them into the polyjuice potion in his flask. One good chug and he was transformed. He cast a few extra spells on the tutor's body as well as a disillusionment charm, and pushed the body behind some bushes.

Then he returned to the end of the walk and took off the invisibility cloak, shoving it into a pocket. Gritting his teeth, he headed up to the door, not very impressed by the body he was now inhabiting, but pleased to have disguised himself so well. Now all he could do was hope to get information out of Lucius, and if he was lucky find Voldemort himself.

Dumbledore had left the details of the operation to his spy, and while Severus knew better than anyone the value of being subtle, silent, and cautious, this time he would leave nothing to chance. His plan involved finding Lucius, shoving Veritaserum down his throat, giving him a good smack for hurting Raleigh, and then obliviating him of everything that had happened in the past month or so. It wasn't slick, but it would serve his purpose.

Severus knocked on the door and it was opened by a nervous house elf whose eyes were so big Severus barely registered the rest of the elf's tiny body.

"You may show me to master Draco," he said imperiously, as he had heard the tutor say each morning for the past four days.

"Yes, Mr. Remington. Dobby will take you there straightaway."

Severus did not respond but merely followed the fidgeting elf down a very familiar hallway and into Malfoy Manor. He had waited for four days to catch Lucius at home during Draco's schooling hours. He knew that Braxton Remington tutored Draco in magical law, reading, and writing, with a spattering of geography, potions and history included. Severus had not seen Draco since he was a small boy, and it would be odd to lay eyes on his wife's nephew (and he supposed therefore his own) for the first time in years.

"Master Draco, your tutor his here," the house elf said timidly, and ran for it when a jar of ink came flying out the door. Severus frowned and entered the boy's room.

"Good day, Master Draco."

"Hello, sir," the boy said in a voice that could only be described as ingratiating. Yes, this one was destined for Slytherin for sure. He was the spitting image of his father, right down to his pointy face and his slick blond hair.

"If you please, Draco, I'd like to do something a bit different today. Would you like that?"

"I suppose, sir," the boy replied noncommittally, his mouth forming a straight line as if it wasn't yet sure whether to smile or frown.

"If it is all right with you, I thought we would forgo the quills and parchment today and try something a bit more hands on." Severus reached beneath his robe and removed a small black orb. "This is an item of rare magic that I recently acquired. It grants the possessor surprising magical abilities. I believe it is imbued with _dark_ magic," he said slowly, and sure enough the boy's eyes lit up and he began to reach for it. Severus held it away and waited, knowing that a Malfoy was never denied his wants.

"Give it to me," Draco commanded, a sneer threatening to disrupt the avid interest painted on his young face.

"As you wish," Severus murmured, and passed the orb into Draco's waiting hands. As soon as the boy's eyes fell on the object he was transfixed. Severus smiled and set him down in a chair. Draco was very nearly frozen in place, his deep blue eyes focused entirely on the black orb he cradled in his hands. Slipping the invisibility cloak over his head, Severus left the room and closed the door behind him. Draco would be incapable of pulling his eyes away from the ball in his hands. He would sit there staring at it, all thought wiped from his mind, until someone took it away. The only trick of the ball was that the person had to want it desperately, and spoiled little Draco had wanted it badly indeed.

Now free to roam about the Manor, Severus headed for Lucius' study. The tall blond wizard was there, seated at an ornate desk, his gaze focused on some papers. Severus realized with a pang of surprise that he did look quite like Raleigh, although she had softer features and more silvery hair. Not about to waste even a moment, Severus snatched Lucius by the hair and forced two drops of Veritaserum into his surprised mouth.

"What is your name?" he asked, still beneath the cloak, just for good measure.

"Lucius Draco Malfoy."

"Are you the half-brother of a certain Raleigh Malloy?"

"I am. We share the same father."

"Who is Wendall Scrood?"

"A wizard from Albania. He agreed to allow the spirit of the Dark Lord to inhabit his body. He has a weak mind, and the Dark Lord was able to bend his thoughts, force his speech and his actions. Very close to possession, I believe. He arrived at my door just a bit over a month ago. The real Wendall Scrood seemed to break through the Dark Lord's hold right in front of me, and he started speaking frantically in Albanian. I was concerned, so I hexed him and had him delivered to St. Mungo's. There the Dark Lord was able to regain control of his thoughts, and he learned much about a girl called Raleigh Malloy, my half-sister, and her strange recovery from a fatal illness. He became obsessed with phoenixes, and then he came to me and revealed himself."

"Did he ask you to confront your sister and acquire her tears?"

"Eventually, yes. At first he wanted me to capture Dumbledore's bird, Fawkes, but I was unable to do so and suggested Raleigh as another option. He went to Hogwarts himself to try and capture the bird, unsatisfied by my failure, but he too was unsuccessful and chose to search for Raleigh himself. When she slipped from his grasp, he used me to get her. I had promised him that I knew things to bring her to the edge of despair."

"How did he get into Hogwarts?" This was something Severus was desperate to know, and he hadn't let go of the idea that someone had helped him from the inside.

"The Quidditch match. He convinced the gamekeeper that he was the father of one of the players. That stupid oaf Hagrid believed him, although it is possible that he was confunded."

Severus clenched his teeth. Hagrid could have been easily confunded, but he also might just have been stupid enough to let the man in without confirming his parentage. At least it had been an innocent mistake. The most important question came next, and Severus forced another few drops of the truth potion down Malfoy's throat.

"Where is Voldemort now?"

"I don't know."

Severus frowned and tried again. "Where is Wendall Scrood?"

"Dead."

"Explain this to me."

"The potion did not work and the Dark Lord was very angry. I believe that he lost control of his emotions in his anger and the real Wendall Scrood, or whatever his name was before the Dark Lord came along, was able to regain control of his senses. He used a knife to slit his own wrists."

"And you watched this happen?"

"Yes. I could not stop the bleeding. He died so quickly. Then there was a chill in the room, as if all the warmth had been sucked out. Wind blew past my cheek and a voice whispered in my ear – I had failed him. And then he was gone. I do not know where."

"Mr. Scrood is dead?"

"Yes. I burned his body."

"Do you have any remaining things of his?"

"No."

"No more of Raleigh's tears?"

"No."

"Did anyone else know of the Dark Lord's presence? Anyone else?"

"No. It was kept secret. Not even my family knew. He stayed in my basement and I fed him secretly."

Severus nodded. Only one question remained, and he feared the answer.

"Would you have killed your sister, had the Dark Lord asked it of you?"

Lucius' eyes grew dim. "I do not know. I do not think I can yet draw a line between those who are my flesh and blood and those who are mudbloods. I do not know where my loyalty to Raleigh lies." He paused. "I think I was glad not to kill her this time."

Satisfied, Severus murmured "Stupefy" and Lucius' head fell to the desk with a bang. Severus gathered his wits and performed one of the more complicated memory charms of his life, removing all thought of the Dark Lord's return, Wendall Scrood, Raleigh's phoenix powers and anything else about the last month that might come back to haunt them. Then he returned to Draco, grabbed away the magic orb, left the house, restored the real Braxton Remington to his wits, and disapparated, certain he left behind not one, but three very bewildered wizards.

A job well done. Yes, in some ways he had grown to miss the stealth that had once been asked of him. It was rather exhilarating to accomplish the job, even if it had been unexpectedly easy. Raleigh was safe, Ariana was safe, Malfoy was neutralized and Voldemort – well, Severus did not know where he had gone, but he had to be weak without a body to play parasite to, and Severus thought it likely that he would be absent for some time to come. The only worry that remained was that the Dark Lord would not forget what Raleigh was, nor that she was the dear wife of a servant called Severus Snape...

* * *

_A/N: Readers, I embarked on a plot line about seven chapters back that I have greatly enjoyed (I have wanted to name a character Wendall Scrood for like-ever), mostly because it has allowed me to delve into Raleigh's (and coincidentally Ariana's) past and present a bit more than I ever intended. Plus I just can't seem to leave Voldemort alone in Albania, the poor thing. Anyways, I have felt more and more lately that I'd like to get back to what I started with – glimpses into the the Snape's memories and their current relationships, so that is where I'm heading from here, now that this little angle is neatly tied up. Just like Raleigh, I have rather missed my dear Severus. But don't worry, something dramatic is bound to crop up before too long. Meanwhile, Ariana is about to have a few adventures of her own :) Thanks for reading! And I always like to hear what you think so review! - **BD**_


	15. Summer Plans

Ariana Snape snuggled beneath her bedsheets and smiled. Tomorrow was the end of term feast. Exams were over, and she was pretty sure that her parents were buying her a kitten as a present for finishing her first year. As if going to the Quidditch World Cup wasn't a present enough! Ariana was going to miss having all of her friends around Hogwarts for the summer, but her mum had promised to play Quidditch with her, and she was going to stay with the Weasleys for part of June and again in August before the World Cup.

She closed her eyes and thought about their secret plan to visit Harry Potter in Little Whinging. Thanks to Hagrid, she and the twins knew exactly where to find the Boy Who Lived…

_Ariana had known Hagrid since she was a little girl, and he had often found ways to entertain her while she was growing up. There weren't any other children to play with unless her mum took her to a muggle park somewhere in England, so mostly she just played with imaginary friends. Anytime that her playing took her outside, Hagrid was kind enough to give her rides on his shoulders, let her help with his chores around the castle grounds and occasionally participate in a game of hide-and-seek. If she was lucky, he took her along when he went to greet the first years at the start of a new term, and from him she had learned to navigate her way around Hogwarts' extensive grounds._

_ Even so, when she and the Weasley twins arrived at his hut to inquire about the current location of Harry Potter, Ariana was nervous. Fred and George were chattering on about their prank on Mrs. Norris when the door opened._

_ "Why 'ello, Ariana. Nice to see you. Why don't you come in?" Hagrid said cheerfully, and Ariana heard a welcoming bark from Fang. _

_ "Hi, Hagrid. You remember Fred and George."_

_ The two boys beamed._

_ "Yes, I remember," he said with a little less cheer in his tone. The twins had brought back one of the Burrow's garden gnomes after Christmas and it had caused Hagrid plenty of trouble in the past few months. "So what brings you out 'ere?" _

_ "Well, it has been awhile since I've visited. Just thought we'd come say hello."_

_ The three students made themselves comfortable in some chairs while Hagrid boiled water for tea. _

_ "Classes goin' a'right? How's yer dad doin' since yer mum left?"_

_ "Oh, he's all right. Mum's sent a few owls from Africa."_

_ "What's she doin' down there?"_

_ "Looking for exotic potions ingredients," Ariana lied. "Say, Hagrid. Did you know the Potters?"_

_ Hagrid's hand shook as he set down a cup of tea in front of her._

_ "Well, sure I did, Ariana. Before they died. What makes you ask?"_

_ "I, uh, just recently found out that my mum played Quidditch with James, back when they were students. I never realized that my parents and the Potters were at Hogwarts at the same time."_

_ Hagrid nodded and sat down. The twins were silent, for once, and Ariana thought she might dare prod a little further._

_ "I guess I'm not that much older than Harry," she mused, watching Hagrid for any change in expression. He merely frowned into his teacup. "Must be hard for him, growing up without parents."_

_ Ariana watched a great big tear splash down into Hagrid's cup, and before she knew what to do about it, Hagrid was crying great honking sobs. "Poor little tyke. I held 'im in my arms the night 'is parents died. Slept all the way to Little Whinging."_

_ Ariana held her breath. Little Whinging was in Surrey._

_ "Hated to leave 'im there. McGonagall said his aunt and uncle were dreadful type folks, muggles. Some days I wonder 'ow it might've been different, if we'd taken 'im to a wizard family. But no, Dumbledore said it 'ad to be the Dursleys." He was wiping his tears with a large ugly handkerchief and Ariana leaned back with a smirk – the same sort of self-satisfied smirk that her father had on his face when he learned something valuable._

_ "I'm sorry, Hagrid," she said gently, patting his arm. "I didn't mean to bring up bad memories. I'm sure Harry is just fine. Who knows, you'll probably see him again sometime."_

_ Hagrid blew his nose and glanced at the three children. "Yes, I suppose yer right. Now don't you all go repeating tha'. I probably shouldn't have said anything."_

_ "Don't worry, Hagrid, we won't." _

_ Before Ariana had a chance to feel badly about wheedling the information out of Hagrid, there was a knock on the door and Hagrid let in Tonks. _

_ "Wotcher, Hagrid. Yer mum's back, Ari," she said, looking past Hagrid's large form. "She's wanting to see you." Tonks' hair was purple today, but the look in her eyes was urgent, and Ariana knew that Tonks had been entrusted to find her because she was one of the few who knew about Wendall Scrood. _

_ "Er, well, I guess we'll see you round Hagrid."_

_ Fred and George chorused a good-bye and tumbled out of the house after Ariana and Tonks._

_ "I'm impressed you two kept so quiet," Ari said over her shoulder, her heart pounding with excitement to see her mother again. _

_ "We thought we'd best leave the talking to you," George said with a grin._

_ "Well we found out what we wanted to know," she said, flashing a grin in return._

_ "What's this about?" Tonks asked, curiosity in her bright purple eyes. _

_ Ariana swallowed. If they were going to see Harry they'd need some help. _

_ "Hagrid sort of, well, accidentally told us where Harry Potter lives," Ari said, glancing up at Tonks with a sheepish smile. Tonks whistled and then smiled in return. _

_ "You're more a troublemaker than I thought, Ariana Snape."_

And so Nymphadora Tonks had become party to their plot to visit Harry sometime over the summer. It had taken some convincing, but Tonks had gone along with it eventually.

The excitement over locating the Boy Who Lived drowned out the surprise of learning that Grandpa Mark wasn't really her mother's father, and whatever it was about being a Malfoy that seemed so upsetting to her mother didn't really matter to Ariana. Even the strange news about a hereditary illness seemed so out of the blue that she didn't have time to process it. She felt fine, and she had only to match up the name Dursley with a house in Little Whinging to find the famous Harry Potter. Her dad would deal with You-Know-Who and everything would turn out fine, just like Dumbledore said.

And everything did.

The rest of the term had flown by, her dad took care of all the bad stuff, including Mr. Scrood, and Ariana had an exciting summer to look forward to. Dumbledore had wanted her to learn about the Wizarding War and Harry Potter, and she was determined to bring him firsthand information on just what the famous nine-year old was all about. Maybe then she'd be ready to ask her mum and dad what parts they had played in the whole thing…

* * *

Resentment wasn't pretty. Severus had learned that years ago when he had to deal with the sting of Raleigh's affair with that mangy werewolf. But it had passed, and this would too. It helped that this was easier to understand. Severus understood why she had kept it from him – he wouldn't want to be related to the Malfoys either. Of course, he was now, not by blood but by marriage. He had always rather liked Lucius, and in a way he still rather liked the boy, but now Lucius was forgotten. Anyone who would threaten his wife or cause her distress was an enemy, and that included her pureblood older brother, especially if his loyalty was questionable.

Severus had done a pretty decent job of keeping the resentment smoldering quietly in the bowels of his mind. Months had passed since the events of February, and they had reached the end of the term with no further hiccups. Slytherin had won the House cup, something he couldn't fail to be proud of, and Ariana had done very well in Potions.

Raleigh had quietly gone back to painting and spending a lot of her time in the kitchens. Her hair was growing back, but she had insisted that it grow naturally – the muggle way. Sometimes it surprised him how much she liked the muggle way of doing things. For such a bright witch and such a magical person, she certainly knew how to show disdain for spellwork. Her hair was currently split between an inch or so of silver and an inch or so of black tips, making her look rather like a rock star. He didn't mind so much, he was just glad she was home.

Still, if he thought about it too much, if he let the resentment start to bubble in the pit of his stomach, it threatened to rise like bile and choke him. He didn't like that she had kept her heritage a secret, and she had known about the Malfoys for a long, long time. It made him wonder what other secrets she had. Sometimes it seemed to him that all families did was keep secrets. He knew well enough that he had kept many himself. But his frustration over Raleigh's secret would pass, he knew it would with time.

Even so, Severus was not a simple man and there would always be a deeper resentment simmering, the sort that he kept only for James Potter, the sort that was dark and slimy and mean, the sort that he had passed on to Harry, whether it was deserved or not. For some reason Lily didn't belong to it, only James, only Harry. It festered and it was hard to ignore.

"Sev, is everything all right?" a soft voice asked from behind his chair, and then Raleigh's delicate frame was folding itself into his lap, and her arms were circling his neck. The fire crackled and he tore his mind from his dark thoughts. There would be time enough for them in the years to come, especially now that he knew Dumbledore was right about the Dark Lord not being gone.

He brushed a kiss on Raleigh's cheek. "It's strange sometimes, how often summer comes around. I guess that's what happens when your year revolves around school. It doesn't begin on January first and end on December thirty-first. It begins in September and ends in June. My years really revolve around summers. And here we are at another one."

"We used to travel in the summer, remember?" Raleigh said, stroking a hand through his hair. "When Ari was six we went to Brazil, and when she was seven we spent the summer in Japan. And Australia when she was eight."

"Well, we're going to Paris this summer," he reminded her, and when he turned his head to meet her eyes he was caught by the glow that lit them. She opened her lips to speak and he found his eyes drawn to them, to their curve and their softness. Her voice was low.

"Sometimes at night I worry that the Dark Lord will come back for me. It makes me shudder to think that he could so fully possess a man, and so ruthlessly use my own brother against me. And then I remember who my protector is." Her lips curved into a gentle smile. "You are fiercely protective, you know that, Severus Snape?"

He rolled his eyes, enjoying the flirtatious way she had said that, as if she knew how it would embarrass him to hear her speak of him that way.

"Don't roll your eyes at me!" she teased, and he was drawn in by her smile and the light in her bright gray eyes.

"I will do as I please," he said, keeping his voice low and velvety. "You'll get no sappy romantic response from me."

But he felt that the resentment had evaporated. He found himself inclined to agree with Dumbledore, that love was powerful magic all its own.

"Let's go up to the feast. I heard tell that a student's lovely young mother made all the honeycakes herself."

Raleigh blushed prettily and provided him with the kiss he had been waiting for.

"Yes, let's."

* * *

**_Sorry this chapter turned out sort of lame. It turned out to be motions towards future action and as such is rather dull. I am determined that it will pick up! Stay tuned!_**


	16. Change of Plans

Sunlight poured into Greenhouse Three as Raleigh started to water a few plants for Professor Sprout while she was away for the summer. She liked being around green, growing things and it was quiet amongst the plants. She hummed to herself as she watered and started making plans for a new painting. It was about time to do another one of Ariana. She had grown so much this past year.

Raleigh noticed that a small cat was following her around the greenhouse, and it wasn't Mrs. Norris. It was Merlin, Ariana's new pet, but since her daughter was gone visiting the Weasleys for a few weeks, the little cat had taken to following her about the castle. The house elves hated it, but Raleigh had grown rather fond of the frisky black cat.

She stopped her watering and knelt down to pick him up, stroking his fur until he started to purr. Deciding that a short sit couldn't hurt, Raleigh lowered herself to the floor and settled Merlin in her lap, scratching him behind the ears.

She leaned back against the leg of a table and closed her eyes, knowing exactly which memory was about to flood her mind, and today…today she didn't want to fight it. Not today when everything was so green.

_"Oh, RJ, this is lovely," she said with a smile, glancing back at him over her shoulder as she walked into the conservatory. The glass ceiling rose high above them and the giant greenhouse was alive with color and smell. Remus Lupin merely returned the smile with one of his own, the sort that she saw reflected in his eyes as well as his lips._

_Raleigh wandered among the plants, a sleeping Ariana in her arms. It was one of her first excursions out of the house since the war had ended, and Remus had insisted that the Hyde Park Conservatory was the perfect place for an outing. _

_"Here, let me take her," he offered when she realized it was hard to get a closer look at some of the blooms with a heavy almost-three year old in her arms. She passed her daughter off to him, enjoying the look of affection that colored his cheeks when the toddler snuggled close against him, releasing a tiny sigh as she slept._

_It felt like they were a family, just a normal family out for a day together. She hadn't experienced this since she was a child, and she had only just begun to realize how much of a toll the years in hiding had taken on her. She couldn't keep herself from looking at Remus. He had been happier lately, despite the loss of his close friends, and she knew part of that was her doing. _

_Eventually she had her fill of the greenery, having walked through room after room of exotic plants and blossoming flowers. She and Remus sat down on a bench and let the now wide-awake Ariana run around in a sort of play area for children. He took her hand and held it tightly in his, his gaze focused on the small blond child playing not far away._

_"I want to marry you," he said softly, not looking at her._

_Raleigh let the words wash over her with a feeling of joy. Spoken so sincerely, so honestly, she couldn't help but love him for it. She turned her head to look at him, memorizing the caramel color of his hair, the faint white scars on his cheeks and the movement of his eyelashes when he blinked. For a moment another face intruded, the face of her husband, the liar, but she pushed it away. She would not think about his dark locks or his hooked nose or the way his black eyes sparkled. He was a part of her life that was finished. _

_Raleigh squeezed his hand and nodded. "I want to marry you too," she whispered, feeling her heart swell when his face swung to look her in the eyes. He was glowing, his eyes alight, and his mouth captured hers in a swift kiss. _

_"Okay then," he said happily and kissed her again. _

That had been the night Severus had come, the night he had barged into their room, pulled her out of Remus' arms and asked her to come home. The note from Albus Dumbledore had helped, as had the feel of Severus' long fingers tangling fiercely in her hair while he calmly asked her to be his wife once more, but she couldn't quite say what had made her agree. Perhaps somewhere within she still loved her husband, even though she hadn't lied to Remus—she _did_ want to marry him—but past or present love wasn't on her mind when she said yes, it was duty. She was his wife; they were married. And there was something about the hollow look in Severus' eyes. He needed her. He wouldn't survive alone. And he had a right to his daughter. She owed him a second chance.

Still, sometimes when Raleigh was alone she wondered if her choice might have been influenced by the fact that Remus made no move to fight for her. He had just stood there in his bathrobe, doing the noble thing. When she had looked to him for help he had merely said: "Wives belong with their husbands, and children belong with their fathers," but she had not failed to hear the tremble in his voice as he said _father_.

And so she had gone with Severus, and she hadn't laid eyes on RJ Lupin since. She had worked hard to believe that she was loved by her husband, for she had grown to love him more than ever before, and yet there were days when she longed for the assurance of love in return. With Severus there was always the shadow of Lily, but with Remus it had been easy…and wonderful.

She heard his voice in her head once more. _I want to marry you_.

Raleigh buried her face in Merlin's back and let his fur absorb her tears.

* * *

Severus found Raleigh down at the greenhouses. He had spent all morning in the dungeons brewing potions to replenish his stores, and he had to admit, he already missed the dark and the dank. It fit him in a way that bright sunlight and the greenery did not.

"You look quite at home," he said. Raleigh was sitting on the floor, Ariana's new pet curled up in her lap. She glanced up at him and a small smile crept onto her face.

"You look like you'd scorn fresh air if you could."

She rose from the ground and the little black cat dashed away. She dusted off her robes and held out a hand for him to take, her smile faltering just a little as his fingers twined together with hers.

"Severus, could we go to the beach? You know, like muggles do with their bathing suits and towels and sunscreen. We could jump in the waves and walk barefoot along the seashore."

He was taken aback by the sudden explosion of quickly spoken words.

"Where is this coming from?" he asked hesitantly.

Raleigh shrugged and her gaze traveled to a strange looking plant on the table beside them. "Nowhere really. I just...I want to do something spontaneous with you. Something out of the ordinary. We used to go to the beach when we traveled. Do you remember the clear blue water in Australia?"

Severus made a noise of agreement, but he was still puzzled.

"Do you miss being a muggle, Raleigh?"

Her head jerked up at the question. "What? Why, no, of course not. I love magic!"

But her words rang hollow and concern flooded Severus' mind. He turned her to face him, placing his hands on her shoulders and looking her full in the eyes. She had such lovely, magical gray eyes.

"You were thinking about something before I came in here. Something that made you sad, made you regret ever having become a witch. I don't need to use Legilimency to see that." He frowned a little when her normally soft features pinched as if he had hit a nerve. "It's Ariana, isn't it?" he said more softly. "You're worried about her future?"

"Oh, no, Sev," Raleigh said quietly. "I mean, I _am_ worried about that, but what's done is done. I wouldn't trade her out of my life for anything."

"It's something else then," he said, letting his hands leave her shoulders and travel up into her two-tone locks of hair. He wanted to ask if it was him, but he couldn't bring himself to say the words.

"I'm fine, really. I just wanted to spend some time with you."

She smiled prettily then and his worries escaped to the back of his mind. He bent his head and kissed her, enjoying the softness of her lips and the increasing warmth of her fingers on his cheek. He pulled away, chuckling. "You know, we don't need to go to the beach to get a sunburn," he teased. And she grabbed his face in her hands and kissed him once more, until they were both smiling so broadly that they could only rub noses and stare into each others eyes, for their mouths would no longer cooperate; their muscles insisted on smiles only.

And so they might have stood for a long time had not a large snowy owl dive-bombed into the greenhouse, shattering glass and falling in a heap on the floor beside them. They both stared at the bird in shock until it managed to hop up and flutter onto a nearby table, squawking loudly and holding out her claw with the delivery.

Severus took it and frowned. It was muggle post. He had long ago hired a wizard to stop by Spinner's End once a week and see if there was any mail worth sending along by owl to Hogwarts, but never before had one come, for usually all he received at his childhood home was junk mail and magazines. But this was very clearly addressed to one Severus Snape at Spinner's End. He ripped it open as Raleigh tried to make sure the crazy owl was not injured, and the cry of surprise that left his lips a few moments later was enough to bring his wife directly to his side.

"What does it say?"

His hand was shaking. His. Severus Snape, who almost never lost his composure, never let his emotions be seen—his hand was shaking.

"It seems we have an extraordinary new challenge on our hands, if the information in this letter proves to be true. Raleigh, do you recall that my parents are dead?"

"Yes, I remember."

"Well, my father had one sister, my Aunt Bertie. And my Aunt Bertie had a son, my cousin Wesley, who I detested as a child and haven't seen for many years. Raleigh," he paused to look at her, "As it turns out Wesley had a daughter, apparently her name is…" he squinted at the letter, "Georgiana. Oh what a dreadful name," he said as an afterthought. "And Georgiana's parents have just died in a car crash. Leaving me her sole relative."

He hardly said the words before he felt his resolve falter just a little, and then return with a force of determination that he didn't know he had in him. Her sole relative. Well, it did seem a bit absurd that Wesley's wife had no family, but then again Severus' own family had long ago made the trek into the beyond, his mother, father, Aunt Bertie and grandparents included.

Raleigh's eyes had grown wide, and then with relief he watched a vast and glowing smile appear on her face. "Oh, Severus, another child," she whispered, almost as if she couldn't believe it. Try as they might, the Snapes had not produced a child since Ariana, and Raleigh had long wished for more.

"Yes, this letter was delivered to Spinner's End three days ago. Apparently the social worker had come by the house a few times to try and reach me and had no luck."

"Poor Georgiana, she must be all alone, her parents dead and no family there to comfort her. How long since your cousin and his wife passed?"

"A week."

"Severus we'll have to take her in. I suppose we could move back to Spinner's End and raise her there. Ariana might like to go to Hogwarts without her parents lurking around every corner. I mean really, we couldn't shock the poor thing with news of a magical world. It might do her in."

Severus ran a hand through his hair, glad that it had stopped shaking, glad that Raleigh had not taken the news badly. Another child.

"Raleigh, we can't leave. I have my promise to keep to Dumbledore, and to Harry," he added with some effort. "Perhaps she's young enough that it would be delightful news, something to take her mind off of all the scary things, like moving in with people she has never met. She's nine years old, it says here."

"Yes, but Severus, think. To exist in a world of magic, to _live_ at a school and not be magic yourself. Why, it would be awful, like being a squib."

"Argus manages all right, and Hagrid handles life without magic quite well."

"Argus is a mean old coot and you know very well that Hagrid manages just fine with his pink umbrella. Really, magic can be such a burden if one cannot partake in it."

"And even if one can?" he replied, raising an eyebrow.

Raleigh merely shrugged. "I suppose we should go and get her. We can take her to Spinner's End for the time being, and I suggest you send an owl to Dumbledore. Although not this one," she added with a laugh. "To think I thought going to the beach would be the biggest piece of spontaneity in our day. And now this!"

Severus just watched her face with pleasure. Another child would be nice.


	17. Green

Georgie Rydel was not a typical nine year old. She had a strange sort of ethereal quality that tended to make people uncomfortable, as if they could never quite make up their minds whether to like her or not. They didn't seem to approve of the fact that she was delicate and pale and quiet. They seemed to think that normal children were a healthy pink color with plump well-fed limbs and that they should chatter and play all day long. But Georgie didn't care to play games, and as soon as she turned her large luminescent eyes on an adult they tended to drop their gaze and look uneasy. Georgie didn't laugh or cavort around like other children, but she did work hard, and the presence of a deep-seated goal and the determination to achieve it kept most adults from worrying about her mental health. Still, there was something odd about her, something almost otherworldly. Georgie didn't notice, she was just herself, but she did notice other people's reactions, and this had made her stubborn and introverted.

Georgie was lying on the floor and listening to her portable CD player when her worker came into the small room she had been asked to wait in.

"Honey, your cousin Mr. Snape is here with his wife. They'd like to take you home with them as soon as we finish up the paperwork."

Georgie didn't answer, just pulled off her headphones and looked right into the woman's eyes. Her worker laughed uneasily and Georgie felt like scowling. There was no need to laugh at her.

"I think you'll really like them. Why don't you follow me?"

Georgie got up slowly and trailed along after the plump woman with graying hair who had arrived with news of her parents' death and placed her in a temporary foster home. She liked the worker well enough, but mostly she just missed being at home. She missed her piano—the center of her world. She realized suddenly that she didn't really miss her parents; she felt like she had outgrown needing them a few years ago. It was a shame that they had died, but it was no real loss.

"And this is Georgie," her worker said as they walked into another room. Georgie stood beside the worker like a ghost, gazing silently at the two people who were seated on a couch. They stood up and stared back at her. The man was tall and thin, with dark hair and a rather unpleasant face. He must be her dad's cousin, the one her dad said was a loser without a job. The lady was pretty, with short hair that switched from silver to black at the tips. They both looked a bit oddly dressed, as though their wardrobe was out of date by a decade or so. The lady smiled at Georgie.

"Hi, darling. We're glad that we could come for you."

Georgie decided that she was nice enough, although she didn't like being called darling. She wondered if the lady would let her keep playing the piano.

"You can call me Cousin Raleigh, and this is Cousin Severus. I mean, you can call us whatever you want," she added, a bit flustered, "We also have a daughter, Ariana, and she's eleven years old. Only a little older than you."

She'd have to cut the childish talk, Georgie thought—she'd had enough of that from the foster mother—but otherwise she seemed all right. Easy enough to deceive when the occasion called for it, and Georgie was excellent at deception.

* * *

She was a bit small for a nine year old, but the truly startling thing about Georgie was her coloring. She had flaming red hair and large, luminous green eyes. She looked so very much like a young Lily Evans that Severus was shocked into silence.

Raleigh seemed to ignore the similarity and had already begun talking to the child. He could hear the genuine warmth in her voice and was glad of it, because he was at a loss for words and couldn't seem to bring his mind into the present.

The girl hadn't yet said a word, just stood beside the worker and stared up at them with her bright green eyes.

"Georgie likes music," the worker offered when silence had met Raleigh's initial attempt to make friends. "She is a budding concert pianist, or so she tells us."

While his wife attempted unsuccessfully to make conversation about the girl's musical talent, Severus kept trying to get things straight in his mind. Only a few hours ago he had discovered the existence of another member of his family, and the problem of what to do with a muggle child had not gone away. While a few months ago he might have jumped at the chance to get out of watching over Harry Potter at Hogwarts, he knew better now. This small, pale red-head would just have to come along, no matter what anyone said.

He signed the last few papers and watched as Raleigh held out her hand to Georgie, who ignored it and put back on her headphones. Once they stood in the street outside of the agency he looked his wife in the eyes. They really hadn't made plans much farther than this and it was getting on towards dinner time. He hoped Raleigh had some muggle money hanging around to pay for transportation. As he opened his mouth to ask, she shook her head at him and knelt down on the sidewalk in front of Georgie, gently taking the headphones off.

"Do you believe in magic?" she asked softly, her voice taking on a serious quality that had been missing from her previous speech.

The child's face remained expressionless and then she spoke at last…

* * *

Ariana Snape held her breath and pressed the doorbell at 4 Privet Drive in Little Whinging, Surrey...

_"Ari, come on wake up, even Ginny's up before you," a voice whined, pulling her out of sleep. Ariana yawned and sat up in bed. A glance over at Ginny's bed confirmed her absence. _

_This meant it was at least ten in the morning and the voice in the doorway belonged to one of the twins. _

"_All right, all right," she groaned and hauled herself out of bed. After a quick visit to the bathroom she wandered down the rickety staircase in the Burrow and found the entire Weasley family enjoying Saturday brunch in their pajamas. A few of the more awake members of the family told her good-morning, but she had eyes only for Bill, whose disheveled bed-hair was simply adorable. He smiled and toasted her with a forkful of pancakes. _

_ She settled herself on Fred's left and Mrs. Weasley charmed a plate from the counter to the table. _

_ "Eat up, dear. Nymphadora should be arriving soon." She smiled happily at her son Bill, who merely shrugged and shoved another forkful of pancake into his mouth. Mrs. Weasley loved to try and set her sons up with nice witches, and she happened to like Nymphadora. If it had been anyone but Tonks arriving to supervise them they might not have been allowed to leave for the day, but they had planned well, and the pretty metamorphmagus was a lucky break. _

_ "Yes, Mrs. Weasley. We're going to visit some of the muggle museums in London. Tonks' dad is a muggle and he's shown her around before, so we shouldn't have any problems."_

_ Mrs. Weasley merely smiled and scooped some more bacon onto Ariana's plate. _

_ "Mum, why can't I go?" The youngest Weasley son, Ron, asked. _

_ "Because you're too little," Fred taunted, and Ron shot him an angry glance. _

_ "Fred, George, and Ariana planned this trip themselves and didn't invite you," Percy added. "Of course, I'm not insulted at all. No one ever thinks to invite me places. Not even the Quidditch World Cup."_

_ "Oh Percy, dear, really," Mrs. Weasley started, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. "That'll be Dora!" she said cheerfully. _

_ And so within only twenty minutes, Tonks, the twins and Ariana were traveling by floo powder to the Leaky Cauldron. Poor Mrs. Weasley didn't even have a chance to get Bill and Tonks alone. _

_ Upon her arrival Ariana dusted off her clothes and looked around for her friends. Tonks was walking purposefully out the door, her hair today a friendly shade of blond to match Ariana's, and Fred and George had stopped to try and buy some sort of illegal joke product from a shady looking character at the bar. _

_ "Come on, boys," Ari said, and they reluctantly followed after her into the bright sunlight of London. It took Tonks only a matter of minutes to get them to the Paddington Train Station from which they could board a train to Surrey. Ariana produced the muggle currency necessary to get train tickets and the four boarded the next available train._

_ "So, what exactly is the plan when we arrive?" Tonks asked once they were seated in a compartment. "I mean, we can't just barge in and scare the muggles. Perhaps Harry hasn't even told them that he's a wizard. I suppose they ought to know, but we can't be sure."_

_ "We thought we'd look muggle enough that they might not notice," George said, wiping the remaining soot off his face with a handkerchief and passing it off to Fred to do the same. "It's not like we're dressed in wizarding robes." _

_ "If we get a chance to talk to Harry alone, I suppose we can tell him we're Hogwarts students. Maybe his aunt and uncle would let him come visit at the Burrow," Fred added excitedly._

_ Tonks furrowed her brow. "Yes, but what's the plan to get inside? Who are we going to say we are? And are you sure Dumbledore gave you permission to do this?"_

It seemed like a long time had passed from the moment she pushed the bell to the moment Ariana heard footsteps, and her companions had started to fidget on the steps behind her. At last the door was opened by a scrawny boy in over-large clothes. He blinked at the three children and one teenager standing on his doorstep and adjusted his glasses.

"Hullo, are you selling something?"

Ariana was overcome with the desire to hug him, the mysterious Boy-Who-Lived, but she merely glanced over her shoulder at her friends and then returned her gaze to Harry. At least, she thought it must be Harry.

"Are you Harry Potter?" she asked, trying to keep the excitement out of her voice.

"Um, yes," he said, although he looked dreadfully confused.

"Is your family home?" she asked next, trying to see over his shoulder and into the house.

"My aunt and uncle are shopping for my cousin's birthday presents, and my cousin is out playing with a friend." He looked like he was about to close the door, but there was enough curiosity in his friendly green eyes to keep him from doing so.

"We're from Hogwarts!" Fred shouted excitedly from behind Ariana.

She took note of the utter confusion in Harry's eyes at that statement, but before anyone else could speak another voice did.

"They're my nieces and nephews, just visiting for a few days this summer, Harry."

All four visitors did a one-eighty and laid eyes on an old woman with gray fly away hair, wearing a hairnet and tartan carpet slippers and standing at the end of the walk. Ariana wasn't exactly sure what was going on or why this strange woman was telling lies, but Harry seemed to know her.

"Mrs. Figg? Why, I didn't know you had any family. You only ever showed me pictures of cats," he said, and as he brushed a hand through his dark hair Ari caught a glimpse of the scar in the shape of a lightening bolt.

"Yes, yes, they had some idea that you might like to play with them, but I'm afraid it is time for dinner and they had better come along with me now. Really, you four, let's go."

If it hadn't been for Tonks, Ariana might have protested this intrusion, but the older girl flashed her a look that said, _We'd better listen_, and Ari remembered the confused look in Harry's eyes when they mentioned Hogwarts. And so they waved good-bye to Harry—Fred and George quite enthusiastically—and followed after the batty-old woman.

* * *

_A/N: Yay for an appearance by Harry! I cannot wait to write more with him! Also, in case anyone is speculating... the deal with Georgie is thus: She is NOT going to be related to anyone of any sort other than the Snapes. She is going to be her own character with no origins to assess her by. Additionally, she is NOT going to be any sort of creepy/incestuous interest for Severus, despite the fact that she resembles Lily. I wouldn't go there. She'll be a character, but not a major one. At least not for awhile. I'll try to keep her from becoming too predictable.  
_

_Please review! It makes me so sad that I don't get many reviews on this story :(_


	18. Muggles of the Worst Sort

"Really, you children ought to know better! How in the world did you locate Harry Potter?"

The old woman Harry had called 'Mrs. Figg' was herding Ariana and her friends down the street and into a small house that smelled like cabbage and too many cats. Her scolding puzzled Ariana, but she sat on the couch when she was told and allowed Tonks to take the lead.

"We, uh, well, why shouldn't we have seen him?" the older girl asked.

Mrs. Figg fumbled with her answer, but eventually she whispered, "Because he doesn't know about _us_."

Ariana began to have a strong suspicion that Mrs. Figg was more than she appeared when Fred burst out: "Why, this cat is part kneazle!"

Mrs. Figg nodded. "Yes, that's Mr. Tibbles," she said, gesturing towards the rather largish spotted cat sitting in Fred's lap. A few other remarkably large cats were lounging about Mrs. Figg's sitting room, blinking at them with intelligent eyes.

"Then you're a witch," George concluded proudly.

"Well, not quite," Mrs. Figg said, turning a light shade of pink. "I'm a Squib."

The four companions looked as sympathetic as they could, and then Tonks asked the question Ariana had poised on the tip of her tongue, "What did you mean when you said Harry doesn't know about us?"

"Why, just what I said, silly girl! He doesn't know about magic, doesn't know he's a wizard, none of it."

"Why on earth not?" Fred asked in his typical robust fashion.

"Because that's the way Dumbledore wants it. He asked me to live here while Harry grows up, to make sure that he stays safe, but Dumbledore believes he is still too young to understand his true place in the wizarding world. It is better for him to grow up not knowing."

"Yes, but he must at least know _something_. His parents were murdered and he defeated the Dark Lord!" Fred insisted.

Mrs. Figg shook her head. "His aunt and uncle have told him that his parents died in a car crash."

Fred and George looked appalled, but the older and wiser Tonks nodded slowly. "I suppose it would be rather crazy to grow up as a celebrity. He'd never have a chance to become his own person the way we did."

"Yes, that's right. In any case, you all were foolish to go right up and start talking about Hogwarts! One of you even had a wand poking out of your pocket! Who put you up to this?" Mrs. Figg demanded.

All eyes turned to Ariana, the mastermind of the failed venture, and she gulped.

"Well, ma'am, I really thought that it was something Dumbledore encouraged me to do. He told me that he approved of my visit to Hagrid and had no doubt that any future actions would be just as excellent. Perhaps I misunderstood his instructions."

Mrs. Figg made a noise of disapproval and adjusted her hairnet.

"Well, you are young enough to be excused I suppose. Just childish error. What is your name, dear?"

"Ariana Snape."

"Yes, you do look rather like your mother. Your father did good work for Dumbledore at the end of the war. Hmm, yes, perhaps a bit of detective work runs in your blood." She turned her gaze to Tonks, "As for you, you seem far too old to have gotten messed up in this."

"I—I thought that Harry would be delighted to see us."

"You thought it would make quite a tale to tell all your school friends—meeting the Boy Who Lived. Well, too bad, because you won't be allowed to breathe a word. All of you may go, but rest assured that I will be sending an owl to the Headmaster detailing this behavior."

Mrs. Figg handed each of them a large oatmeal cookie and sent them on their way. When they stood outside of her closed door, George took one sniff of the cookie and gagged.

"Smells like cabbage," he muttered, and shoved it in his pocket. "Maybe the garden gnomes will like it."

Ariana would normally have laughed, but she was too distressed by her error. Why would Dumbledore have encouraged her to continue on if it was going to end like this?

"Well, I guess we'd better catch the train back to the Leaky Cauldron," Tonks said half-heartedly, not appreciating the chewing out she had just received, and from a Squib of all people.

Fred kicked at a pebble as they continued down the sidewalk. "We should have thought to ask Mrs. Figg if we could travel by floo using her fireplace."

When the friends returned to where they had begun before the intrusion by Mrs. Figg, they stopped just across the street from Harry's house and stared for a moment at 4 Privet Drive. Harry Potter really had been quite an ordinary looking boy, if a bit small in the oversized clothes. Ariana wondered why he dressed that way. Her questions were answered when the car in the driveway opened its doors to reveal a very portly man and his twiggy wife. They were followed by an enormously chubby boy with slick blond hair who was whining about the fact that his friend Piers had beat him at a video game.

"The Dursleys," Tonks whispered. They listened as the family made its way up to the front door, the fat boy almost in tears, the skinny woman trying to calm down her Duddykins and the father already yelling angrily for Harry to come answer the damn door.

"It must be really dreadful living there. Hagrid said it was. He said they were simply the worst sort of muggles. I hope Harry turns out all right," Ariana said to no one in particular, realizing that the large clothes must be handed down from the piggish blonde boy.

"We'll see him before too long," George said, filled with a sense of optimism. "Everything'll turn out all right. Why, he'll be Ron's year at Hogwarts. And when he shows up at the Express on Day One, we can tell him that we were the nutters who showed up at his door one summer. "

This seemed to make everyone feel a bit better, and as they turned to continue down the street they failed to notice the slight boy with messy hair and taped together glasses hiding behind a bush and listening to every word they said. Of course, Harry wouldn't be able to understand the meaning of the conversation for another year yet, but it was one he would remember with a spark of joy. There were children who couldn't wait to see him again—whoever they were.

* * *

Georgie's reply wasn't quite what Raleigh had expected.

"Do you believe in ghosts?" the nine year old asked, her voice just as serious as Raleigh's had been, although betraying no emotion.

Raleigh raised her eyebrows and glanced quickly at Severus, who to her surprise was smiling. Smiling. What on earth was he smiling about? Raleigh returned her gaze to the adult-like child standing in front of her. "I do. In fact, I know some ghosts."

Georgie looked rather surprised that Raleigh had answered in the affirmative. It was only then that she realized the child was playing with her, teasing her, turning her words back on her as if she was the silliest person who had ever breathed. The little punk had expected her to say no. Frustrated, Raleigh stood up and held out a hand to Severus.

"We're going home now, and I'm taking us," she said, fully decided on a course of action that would prove herself to the manipulative little girl who was now in her care. "Take my hand," she commanded and the girl who looked just like Lily Potter placed a small hand in hers. Raleigh glanced back and forth a few times to make sure no one was around and then she apparated, controlling the blaze to a minimum as they appeared inside the Hogwarts castle.

"You do realize we've now broken the Statute of Secrecy," Severus said calmly, while the girl holding her other hand slumped to the ground in disbelief.

Raleigh didn't answer. She merely marched down a hallway and called for Peeves, who appeared quite readily, holding an armful of chalkboard erasers.

"Just a ghost I know," she said casually to Georgie, and then she stalked off down a passage that led to the kitchens.

* * *

"You're really going to love her," Severus said to Georgie, trying to mitigate the results of his wife's jealous reaction to the girl. For it was jealousy that had colored her behavior, and Severus knew it. First Raleigh had tried to ignore the problem, then she had tried to be pleasant, in order to cover up her true feelings, and then she had reacted. It probably hadn't helped that Georgie had mocked her in such a simple and cruel manner, but Severus found he had taken a liking to the impish girl.

"Where are we?" she said, making a tremendous effort to control the fear in her voice.

"_Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts_," Peeves floated away singing.

"Well, we have arrived at your new home," Severus said as a way of beginning, offering the slim girl his hand to help her up from the floor where she had sat since the apparition. She ignored it and stood herself up without any assistance, her deep green eyes wide as they took in the multitude of staircases, moving paintings, and wondrous magic that was Hogwarts.

"This is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This is where I teach and your cousin Ariana goes to school. Um," Severus paused as he realized that he had never had to explain things so basically to a muggle before. "Students study magic here. I suppose you ought to believe in magic now," he added with a trademark sneer. To his delight, the small girl merely sneered back.

"And ghosts," she commented drily.

Severus suppressed a chuckle and led her down a few staircases towards the family apartment.

"Students begin to attend school at Hogwarts when they turn eleven. There are four houses, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Students are sorted into a House and they live in the House dormitories during their time at Hogwarts. Students become quite loyal to their Houses and there are a variety of competitions between Houses during the year."

"Which House were you in?" Georgie asked as they entered the apartment.

"Slytherin," Severus said proudly, "which welcomes students of ambition, cleverness, and cunning." He gestured around the apartment. "Well, here we are. I suppose we'll have to charm up a room for you, but for now you can sleep in Ariana's room. She's away visiting with some friends at the moment."

Severus watched with amusement as Georgie seemed to ponder her current circumstances. She stood perfectly straight and still, her face blank of expression except for a heightened spark in her eyes that proved she was thinking. After a few minutes of silence she cleared her throat and looked up at Severus.

"Could you charm me a piano as well?"

Severus found that for some strange reason he could not resist a smile. He had been right, she had taken to the idea of magic far readily than an adult would, and she was clever enough to use it for her own gain. He found that he was glad Raleigh had brought her here right away. One less secret to have to worry about.

"I suppose so."

As if this had solved all of her worries, she proceeded to fling herself down on the couch and close her eyes.

"Will you tell me more about magic?" she asked softly. And so Severus settled into an armchair and proceeded to recount anything he felt might be of interest to the miniature Lily Potter lying on his couch. How refreshing it was to be around someone so like himself. Now that Georgie had entered his life with her clever tongue and ambitious mind, he realized that he had been spending far too much time surrounded by Gryffindors.

* * *

_A/N: If you haven't seen the deleted scene from Goblet of Fire where they sing the Hogwarts school song to Durmstrang and Beauxbatons you have got to go youtube it. It is simply hilarious and I am very glad it wasn't actually in the movie.  
_


	19. Trouble with Redheads

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Harry Potter, although I am borrowing some of Rowling's words for this chapter.

* * *

_Raleigh stood on the other side of the Fat Lady, holding her breath as she listened to the snatches of conversation going on just outside the Gryffindor Common room._

_ "I'm sorry," she heard Severus say. He sounded completely miserable._

_ "I'm not interested," came Lily's angry reply, and Raleigh knew exactly the look she would have on her face, impassive and utterly serious. _

_ "I'm sorry!" came Severus' plea, even more desperate than the last. _

_ "Save your breath. I only came out here because Mary told me you were threatening to sleep here."_

_ Raleigh had also been concerned about that bit of news, but for different reasons. She and Severus had only just begun dating two weeks before, and the fact that he was still hung up on Lily wasn't exactly comforting. Raleigh felt bad about what had happened between Severus and James Potter just after O.W.L.s, but nothing she had been able to say had comforted him. He had just brushed her away and the "pining-for-Lily" look had returned to his face. He simply couldn't accept the fact that his dear Lily Evans was angry with him. Of course, he had done a terrible thing. Lily had every reason to be upset. Raleigh wouldn't have liked it if he had called her a Mudblood either._

_ "I was. I would have done," she heard him say, a bit of a whine in his normally silky voice. "I never meant to call you Mudblood, it just—"_

_ Lily cut him off, her words sharp and biting. "Slipped out?" She continued on but her voice had dropped to a whisper and Raleigh couldn't make out the words. She thought she heard something about Death Eaters, but she immediately convinced herself she must have misheard. Sure, Severus was friends with creepy guys like Mulciber, but that didn't mean he was like them. Her Severus was sweet and thoughtful. _

_Lily's voice picked up again._

_ "I can't pretend anymore. You've chosen your way. I've chosen mine."_

"_No, listen. I didn't mean—" _

"—_to call me a Mudblood? But you call everyone of my birth Mudblood, Severus. Why should I be any different?"_

_Before Raleigh had a chance to move Lily came bursting back through the portrait hole, her face flushed with anger and her green eyes flashing. She looked right at Raleigh._

"_A long time ago, Severus Snape was my best friend," she said, her hand fiddling with one of the buttons on her dressing gown. "But he's changed, Raleigh. I just feel like you ought to know that. He stopped being my friend years ago. It's just taken a while for us both to realize it. I hope you can be happy with him—with a Slytherin," she said icily. "Sometimes I think he replaced me with you," Lily tacked on, a sort of regretful look in her eyes._

_Raleigh knew better. She shook her head and reached out to take one of Lily's hands._

"_He'll always love you better," she murmured, tugging Lily along beside her as they began walking up the staircase to their dormitory. "He doesn't know how to hide it from me—the way he feels towards you. I don't think he really sees how much he means to me. He's too wrapped up in how little he means to you." Raleigh stopped and turned to look at Lily. "He hates James more deeply than I can express."_

_Lily merely sighed. "All I can say is, be careful how much you devote yourself to him. He's too much of a Slytherin. Some days I think he can't wait to join up with You-Know-Who. Maybe you can keep him out of it. I certainly couldn't. I think he and I are better off not being friends. I just hope he doesn't end up hurting you too."_

_Raleigh didn't have an answer for that. She just kept walking, wishing that Severus liked her enough to threaten to sleep outside the Gryffindor Tower. Even when he was her boyfriend, Lily Evans managed to get in the way. But she wouldn't give up the way Lily had. She would be there to fill the void._

"Have a good night, Mrs. Snape," Toddy said cheerfully, despite the late hour.

Raleigh thanked him and watched as he disappeared, presumably off to the house elves' sleeping quarters. Several of her favorite elves had kept her company long into the evening, when she couldn't yet face going home. Home to where Lily Evans had risen from the grave as a nine-year old child.

Raleigh leaned back against the kitchen's giant brick oven and sipped the last of the hot tea Toddy had made her just before leaving.

She had tried, _really tried_ to look past the pretty red hair and the startling green eyes. She had spoken kindly to the child, tried to win her approval. But the first words out of the girl's mouth had ruined everything. One snarky little comment to throw her off balance and there she was, back to the days following Lily's decision to end her friendship with Severus. Those were the days Raleigh had first realized just how hard it would be to win Severus all for herself. The days when Severus had moped and pined and grouched for weeks on end. Of course, Raleigh thought she had finally made it to first place once they were married, but no. Lily had gone and ruined that too.

Raleigh sighed. So much belonged to the past. It certainly wasn't fair to pin all of the baggage on Georgie. And Raleigh had _loved_ Lily, had considered her one of her very best friends. Despite everything, she had really loved her and never once had she been able to blame her for the bumps in her relationship with Severus.

She conjured up a blaze and simply sat in it for a few minutes, enjoying the way the warm fire crawled across her skin but didn't burn. She thought of fonder memories, of playing Quidditch with James and Sirius and bursting into crowd-pleasing flames whenever she scored a goal. The other students had nicknamed her The Inferno. It was sometime during sixth year when Dumbledore had called her to his office and inquired about her condition. He had introduced her to Fawkes, and she had allowed the whole story to pour out. For a moment she wished Dumbledore was here. It would have been nice to have someone with his wisdom to talk to. He would know what to do with Georgie.

Raleigh closed her eyes and apparated home. Severus was asleep in bed, and she watched as his chest rose and fell, just a hint of a snore escaping as he breathed. She undressed and crawled in beside him, relaxing as he allowed her to snuggle inside his arms. His lips pressed a kiss below her ear.

"I was worried about you," he murmured, and she could feel the rumble of the words in his chest. "I had to do a lot of explaining to Georgie, and you weren't here."

"I'm sorry," she whispered, burying her face in his neck. "It's just been a long day. Lots of visits from the past." She thought of Remus, and of Lily and James.

His hand rubbed her back comfortingly.

"It will get easier. You'll see. She's a lot like me," he said with a hint of a chuckle, the sort of sound that he so rarely produced. "She made me charm her a piano before she went to bed. Now that's someone who knows how to make magic work for her."

"I still worry that she'll have a hard time, trying to reconcile being a muggle with all the magic she'll see around her. And I suppose I'll have to teach her the way I taught Ariana. At least until she's old enough to go to a muggle boarding school."

Severus muttered an unintelligible response and Raleigh realized he had drifted back off.

There would be time to deal with details tomorrow.

* * *

"I still can't believe the gnomes didn't want that cookie. Seriously, how am I supposed to get rid of it now?" George was saying. "I guess not even gnomes want cookies that smell like cabbage."

Ariana was only half listening. They really should have been in bed considering that it was nearly midnight, but she just couldn't stop thinking about how close they had come to screwing up. She leaned back in the rocking chair and wracked her brain for where they had gone wrong. Why hadn't Dumbledore simply told her not to talk to Harry? He seemed to know well enough that that was her plan. Why did they have to go all that way just to be let down?

"George, why don't you just eat it?" Ariana said half-heartedly.

"And make myself throw up? Really, Ari," he retorted, but slowly a gleam appeared in his eyes and he shot up from the chair. "Just got a brilliant idea, have to go share it with Fred. You really ought to get some sleep," he suggested, and was gone, leaving Ari alone in the Weasley's charming little den.

She pounded a fist against her forehead and groaned. Maybe she had it all wrong, maybe Dumbledore had simply wanted her to understand Harry's roots. Maybe it was enough that she had seen where he grew up, the kind of muggles that he lived with. It certainly gave her quite a new perspective on the heroic Boy Who Lived. He wasn't growing up in the limelight. He didn't have lofty expectations about his place in the magical world. He wasn't privileged or even very happy. He was just an orphaned and unwanted kid.

The more Ariana thought about it, the more she liked him, and the more she couldn't wait to be his friend. He would be a real person with real emotions and real experiences, even if so many of them were terrible. He wouldn't be snobby or reveling in his celebrity status. He'd just be Harry.

Ariana smiled. She liked that.

"You're up late," a voice said, and she turned to see Bill standing on the stairs, wearing what would of course be the coolest pajamas she had ever seen.

"Yeah, just busy with my thoughts, I guess," she replied, feeling her heart beat faster when she realized he was coming to sit with her.

"Mind if I sit and think along with you?"

"Sh-sure," she practically squeaked.

"I'm trying to decide what I want to do now that I've graduated," he said, sinking down into the armchair that George had just vacated. "I'm pretty sure I'm settled on working at Gringotts, but there's still a part of me that wishes I could be irresponsible for a change. You know, go travel the world, tame dragons like Charlie or just stay home and hang out with my kid sister. I've really missed Ginny's growing up. I haven't been here."

"I envy you your big family," Ariana said, feeling a happy rush rise up in her stomach because Bill was confiding in her. "I always wished I had brothers and sisters. It's been really nice sharing a room with Ginny, almost like having a little sister of my own."

Bill smiled. "Well, they aren't always so wonderful. But it's not so bad having a little kid idolize you. You can borrow Ginny any time you want. Nine year-old red heads with a penchant for mischief are rather hard to come by," he teased.

Ariana laughed, "I'm sure your mother would hardly agree. Not after raising seven of them."

* * *

Nine year-old, red-headed Georgie Rydel was wide awake, sitting straight up in the center of the bed with a small black cat in her lap. Severus had told her the cat's name was Merlin. It seemed a fitting name, considering that Merlin was the only wizard Georgie had ever really heard of.

It was taking some adjusting, this strange world where nothing was outside of her grasp. With magic anything was possible, she just had to find the right way of using it to her advantage. Georgie found herself wondering what Ariana might be like, and if she would be as easy to fluster as her mother.

Deciding that it was as good a time as any to get some sleep, Georgie leaned back against the pillows. She was surprised when her head felt a hard lump. Curious, she reached beneath a pillow and pulled out a book. Opening it, she began to read, and the more she read the bigger her smile grew, until she was grinning so widely that her face looked as though it might crack in two.

It was Ariana's diary.

She hadn't even met the girl and she already had ammunition. Outlined in big red hearts on page after page: _Ariana loves Bill_.

And if it was the same Bill that Severus had mentioned as being the seventeen year old chaperone when his daughter and her friends went to that big sports event—the Quibburt Cup—or whatever it was called, Georgie had all the leverage she needed.


	20. Family Reunion

Severus Snape woke to the sound of Debussy's _Clair de Lune_. He lay in bed as the soft notes curled around him, lending an elegance and beauty to the morning. He let out a deep breath as the piece ended and the pianist switched to the faster, louder and more exciting Beethoven's 5th.

The quick pounding of the keys also woke Raleigh, who jolted up and then relaxed when she realized the source of the music.

"It's a bit early," she murmured as she fell back against her pillow, "but I'll deal with it."

Severus scratched absently his cheek, noting the stubble that needed to be shaved. He had no doubt that Georgie had decided on her second piece with the direct intention of jolting them out of their slumber. The fact that a nine-year old had to be a musical genius in order to play such works hadn't yet entered his mind.

"Ariana comes home today," he mentioned off hand as he got out of the bed and went to open the nearest window. It was already stifling and the sun had barely risen. "How do you think she'll take to our newest addition?"

Raleigh yawned and ran a few fingers through her hair. "Probably not quite the same way she reacted to Merlin the cat."

The music stopped and suddenly the apartment felt unbearably silent. Severus bent to kiss his wife on the forehead and left their bedroom in search of his young cousin.

"An owl brought this about an hour ago," she said calmly as he walked into the living room. All Severus could see was a hand holding up a letter. The rest of her was hidden behind the large piano he had conjured by way of some tricky spellwork the night before.

He walked over to retrieve the letter, hoping that it would be Dumbledore granting Georgie permission to stay. He flipped it over to break the seal, rather unsurprised to find that it was already broken.

"He says I can stay for the summer. Beyond that he'll have to decide after he meets me. He's coming back this afternoon, and he also wants to see Ariana."

Severus denied the smirk that threatened to arrive at the corners of his mouth. It really was beyond cheeky to read someone else's mail.

"You ought to at least have the grace to blush," he said sternly, looking down at her from over the top of the piano. She seemed quite small then, sitting on the piano bench with her little pale hands clasped in her lap.

And then it happened. She lifted her head and those deep green eyes met his. Suddenly he was inside her mind, invading her thoughts, her memories. He hadn't meant to, and never before had he practiced Legilimency by pure accident.

_He saw a fiery-haired toddler crying on the floor, alone in a big pink room. He felt her hot, searing anger towards the secret world of magic that had been kept from her all her life. He saw an absent father, a green-eyed girl that no one liked, a group of children who taunted her because she refused to play catch for fear of hurting her precious fingers. He felt her pride in her piano ability, her determination to pursue a musical career to astound the world. He heard her thoughts: "I will use them all."_

Severus held his hands to his face, trying to pull himself out of her mind. Then he felt a push against his own defenses. Barely a tap on the door of his memories and then she was in, flooding his mind. She was prying, and it hurt. He slammed the door shut and stared at her, feeling drained despite the fact that he had just woken up from a good-night's sleep.

Fear slithered over his flesh as goosebumps rose on his arms and the back of his neck. He wondered if this is how Dumbledore had felt the first time he met Tom Riddle. Utterly out of his league. Although, on second thought, Severus was rather certain that Dumbledore had never been out of his league. He belonged to a tier of wizardry all his own.

"Funny, I never figured you for a sulky teenager," she said softly, and he heard her rise up off the piano bench. "Now a chemist, that makes sense."

"I make _potions_," he said stiffly, suddenly feeling naked in front of Georgie, whose strangely adult gaze had dropped to the thin v-neck t-shirt he wore. When Raleigh's hand reached around from behind him and touched the dark matting of chest hair visible above the v, he realized Georgie had been merely watching his wife's approach. The child seemed utterly unconcerned with what had just passed between them.

"You play quite well for your age," Raleigh said to Georgie, leaning her head against Severus' back as she spoke. He could feel the warmth of her body pressed against his, and it took away the chill that he had felt since Georgie's unexpected counter-attack.

"My teacher told me I have a natural gift for the instrument," Georgie said walking from behind the piano to gaze out the window closer to where the couple was standing. "Who's that out on the grounds?" she asked.

Severus and Raleigh walked over to the picture window to join her. A tall figure was approaching the castle out of the morning fog. When Severus realized who it was he had to work hard to pronounce his next words in calm tones, even though he felt Raleigh tense beside him.

"That would be your uncle. Well, sort of uncle," he added, his words clipped. "And it seems he has your cousins with him. I suppose we ought to go and meet them, wouldn't you say Raleigh?"

Severus held out his hand to her, noticing with mixed feelings that his wife already had a grip on Georgie's thin shoulder. As the gentle fire of the disapparation roared in his ears, he set aside the strange mental intrusions to deal with later. More urgent circumstances required his attention.

* * *

Lucius Malfoy was pulling Ariana Snape along by the tip of her pale ear, which was turning pink as he pinched harder. The more she tried to jerk away, the tighter he held, and as she listened to the snickers of the small blond boy walking a few paces behind them she felt her blood begin to boil.

"Let me go or my father will hex you for certain!" she shrieked.

"Stop your yelling or _I'll_ hex _you_," the tall blond wizard replied in a hiss.

"I wasn't doing anything wrong!" Ariana replied, still struggling as they continued across the Hogwarts grounds towards the castle.

"You were spying on us," the pointy-faced boy said, appearing at her side. "And you'd better believe my father. He knows all sorts of hexes."

"I don't even know who you are!" she said, hoping that once they reached the castle her parents would be home. "I just happened to be walking the same way as you. I was on my way home from Hogsmeade. Really. There was no reason to take my wand."

"Shut up," the blond boy said with a sneer.

"Enough, Draco," the wizard hissed, making Ariana dig in her heels and bring her captor to a halt.

"Draco _Malfoy_?" she asked with surprise. "Why, you're my cousin! And that means you are my uncle! How dare you treat me like this!"

"What's she talking about, Dad? I don't have any cousins. And how can you be somebody's uncle?"

Draco's face was twisted in confusion, and the rather shocked elder Malfoy didn't seem to have the means to answer. He merely stood looking at her with his lips slightly parted as though he wanted to speak but couldn't form words. Ariana wished he would let go of his death grip on her ear.

"Lucius, you will kindly remove your hand from my daughter," a voice said from behind the group of strangely similar looking pale, blond wizards. They turned in unison and Ariana breathed a sigh of relief. Her mother and father were both glaring at her mysterious uncle, with whom she had now become acquainted, and their wands were raised.

"Dad, tell them they've got it wrong. That I was due to be home today. That I wasn't spying on them, even if they were standing rather sketchily in the middle of the Forbidden Forest."

It was only then that she noticed a head peeking around Severus' back, the head of a younger girl, with large eyes and a thin mouth pressed into a line.

"Who's that?" she added.

"Your cousin Georgie," her father replied, with an extra snap in his voice. "You have the great fortune of meeting both of your cousins today. Quite the welcome home, don't you think?" he said, his gaze rising to meet the eyes of her uncle Lucius, who seemed rather surprised by the fact that her father knew of his relationship to her mother. Ariana felt the fingers on her ear relax and then release her, and although she felt like turning to stick out her tongue at Draco, she merely walked a few paces away to join her family.

"So you told them about me?" Lucius said, his own wand now raised.

"They've known for quite some time," her mother replied softly.

"And who else knows?" he said, ice in his tone.

"No one. Except it appears that Draco was rather under-informed about the muddier side of his family, eh nephew?"

Ariana had never heard such an edge in her mother's voice, but it made sense, considering what he had done to her earlier in the year. Of course, he had no memory of doing it, Ari reminded herself.

Lucius reached into his robes and took out Ariana's wand, tossing it over to her.

"I have no further business with you, and I disdain to call you family of any sort, especially now that it appears you've added a muggle into the mix," he said, gesturing towards Georgie. "Yes, she must be a muggle for it is certain we are hiding no more cousins on the pureblood side of the family," he added. "And we all know Severus Snape comes from dirty blood himself."

She barely saw the swish and flick of her father's wand before Lucius Malfoy was thrown flat on the ground with her father standing over his immobilized body.

"I don't know what business you have that allows you to walk right onto the Hogwarts grounds as if you own the place, but you certainly have no business insulting my family. For the record, we don't want you either." Her father glanced at Draco. "I'm sure you're confused, but we'll meet again, Draco. And when we do I hope we can put this incident behind us. I'd like to see us get along if you're going to be a Slytherin someday."

And her father, usually a man of few and highly select words, finished his miniature tirade and gestured for his family to follow him the remaining yards into Hogwarts. As they passed through the door into the entrance way, he flicked his wand once more, releasing her uncle from the binding hex.

"I suppose he has business with Dumbledore," he murmured in a low voice. "He sent an owl saying he'd be back this afternoon."

Ariana felt the unease growing again in the pit of her stomach. It had faded once she had slept a few hours and bid the Weasleys farewell until August, traveling back to Hogsmeade by floo powder in the early hours of the morning. But it was back now, the feeling that Dumbledore was going to reprimand her for the messy attempt to see Harry. She dreaded her father's next words.

"He wants to see you too, Ari. Once you've had a chance to get acquainted with your cousin."

Ariana turned her head to look at the thin red-haired girl following them down the hallway to their apartment. The girl looked back, and Ari felt a shiver run down her spine. She just had weird eyes, Ariana convinced herself...that was all.


	21. Pain

_Severus leaned against the wall across from where some of the seventh year Gryffindors had their first NEWT level Charms lesson. He watched as James Potter and Lily walked out of the classroom, hands clasped, her head on his shoulder, talking softly about something. He watched her reach up and brush some dust off of Potter's robe and then giggle when he whispered something in her ear. _

_Raleigh hadn't lied. They were together. The loathsome, arrogant Quidditch star and...Lily. It must have happened since the start of term feast, because they hadn't been together then._

_ He watched them laughing, loitering outside the classroom, and then Lily's emerald eyes snapped up and met his gaze. He saw a mixture of emotions—sorrow, anger, disappointment, surprise, disgust. It was the last that caused the pain. Lily was looking at him with disgust. Then she dropped her gaze and returned her eyes to Potter, a beautiful smile spreading across her face. They were soon joined by dumb jock number two, Sirius Black, and continued down the corridor._

_ Severus almost didn't notice his girlfriend and Remus Lupin exiting the same classroom, his mind was so focused on the cataclysmic truth he had just witnessed. It barely registered that Raleigh was straightening Lupin's tie and blushing prettily as the sandy-haired young man thanked her with soft kiss on the cheek. _

_ He sort of half noticed when she waved him over._

_ "I'll see you a bit later," Severus said brusquely, ignoring the hand Raleigh held out to him. He failed to see the disappointment in her eyes, so very different from the same emotion previously displayed by Lily Evans. He missed the way Remus glared at his departing back, missed the jerky movement in which the suspected werewolf almost grabbed Raleigh's outstretched hand and then thought better of it._

_ Severus followed after Lily at a distance, his eyes never leaving the head of shiny red hair a few yards in front of him. His hatred for Potter and Black had never burned so fiercely, and at the same time he was sure he had never longed for Lily quite so deeply. _

_ They finally stopped just outside the entrance to the Great Hall. Black pecked a quick kiss on Lily's cheek and disappeared inside. Lily and Potter lingered, and it wasn't until Severus saw her full pink lips kissing James Potter that he truly lost it. _

_ He turned and ran back up the corridor, his heart pounding furiously. His breath still hadn't caught up with him when he found Raleigh and Lupin, slowly making their way down a nearby staircase in the direction of the library._

_ "So, I'll see you later? We can make up a study schedule if you want," he heard Lupin say softly. Severus watched his girlfriend nod in return, and this time he didn't miss the hint of a spark in her eyes._

_ "Raleigh!" he called, the force of his anger growing with each step._

_ "Sev!" she said brightly. "I wasn't sure where you'd gone off to. Remus was walking me to the library."_

_ Severus grabbed her hand. "We need to go be alone," he said through clenched teeth. _

_"Sure, okay. Is everything all right?"_

_ He didn't answer, but he knew Raleigh wasn't stupid. She knew that the truth about Potter and Lily would upset him. She said good-bye to Lupin and squeezed Severus' hand. He dragged her along into an empty hallway and looked her straight in the eyes. _

_ "Can we please go away from here?" he asked, his voice almost a whisper. He felt like he might be close to tears, and that was not something he would allow. "Raleigh, can you take us to Spinner's End? I just want to go be alone."_

_ Her large gray eyes blinked once and then they were standing in his dingy bedroom at home, the heat from the apparition already fading to a memory. The house was quiet, empty. His parents were now deceased, one right after the other over the summer. Raleigh had visited him here almost every day, but he had seen none of Lily Evans. She hadn't even stopped by to express condolences, not that it was much of a loss. _

_ The thought only made him angrier. He grabbed Raleigh by the shoulders and shoved her roughly against the wall of his room, ravishing her lips with his own, ignoring her protests. It helped to feel his fingers gripping her flesh so hard it was certain to bruise. It helped to feel her struggling against him. His power over her was intoxicating, and it was so nice to feel power over someone._

_ "Severus, stop!" _

_ Her shriek finally got through the fog in his brain, and when he loosened his hold the knee to his groin cleared away the remaining mist. Raleigh was crying. She slid down the wall into a balled up position, holding her arms around her legs, and she cried._

_ He stepped backwards and slumped to the floor, leaning against the side of his bed. _

_ "I'm sorry," he croaked. "I'm sorry."_

_ The fury had dimmed, and it began to dawn on him that hurting Raleigh had fed the fire._

_ "I could've just burned you to a crisp," she said shakily. "Or thrown you clear across the room with my phoenix strength. But you needed to know you were hurting me."_

_ She had gotten up and was wiping at her cheeks with the back of her hand. For some reason, she didn't look angry, just a little sad. She sidled up next to him and curled herself against his body. _

_ "Lily really means that much to you? Or do you just hate James that much?"_

_ Both. Severus knew that it was both. He didn't answer, merely snuggled her closer to him, trying fiercely to stop his tears from falling. A few quick blinks and he had it under control, enough to tell her once again that he was sorry. _

_ Raleigh crawled into his lap, looping her arms around his neck and running gentle fingers through his hair. She left a trail of soft kisses from the corner of his mouth to his ear, soothing the despair. "I know," she whispered. "I know how much it hurts to love someone who would rather be with someone else." _

_ "How can you be friends with them, Raleigh? How?"_

_ "James and Sirius are my teammates, my Housemates. They are a lot like me. We get along. But that isn't what bothers you. You're okay with them having a good time with me. It's them having fun with Lily that makes you so jealous. Lily has always meant more to you than I do."_

_ Severus scowled. "And yet you accept that."_

_ Raleigh leaned back to look him right in the eyes. "I choose to be here, with you. As often and as long as I can. Because Lily turned her back on you. She's not going to choose you. Let her go, Severus. Let me be enough, because I'm here."_

_ He reached up to stroke her cheek and she closed her eyes. He felt the warmth of her hands on his shoulders, and it excited him, knowing how he made her feel. How easy it was for her to love him, touch him. There was no disgust. He ran his tongue up the length of her neck, listening to the quiet gasp of her breath and feeling the arch of her body. The warmth on his shoulders intensified, as her hands clutched the fabric of his shirt._

_ He tugged at the knot of her tie, pulling her mouth to his as he slid the gold and scarlet fabric from around her neck. Her tongue invaded his mouth, and he pulled her into a standing position, his fingers racing to unbutton her shirt. When he was at last able to slip it off, he let his hands linger on the smooth skin of her shoulders and torso, growling pleasantly when she simply reached up and ripped his own shirt apart, not bothering with buttons. _

_ He pressed his face against her collarbone and smiled…smiled._

_ Raleigh would chase Lily Evans out of his mind like a lion hunting prey, only her roars would be the now familiar gasps, moans, and shouts of his name, and her claws would be hands as hot as coals. And when she had finally finished off her kill, she would purr, and her silvery mane would tangle in his fingers, and they would stretch out like sleepy kittens in the sun. _

_

* * *

_

At Raleigh's suggestion, Georgie followed Ariana down the hall to the bedroom for some get-to-know-each-other time while Ariana unpacked from her visit to the Weasleys. As she watched the taller blond girl stop and converse with a painting on the wall, she thought back on her foray into Severus' mind.

Georgie had been surprised to find the pretty red-headed girl Lily in her cousin's memories. From the way he looked at his wife, it seemed so improbable that there had ever been anyone else, especially someone who he had loved to the point of pain. Georgie had felt that pain, his pain of never having her while she lived, and his pain of knowing she was dead, and that he was to blame.

Yes, her cousin had quite a few unexpected layers. He had been the first in several years to breach her mental defenses, and it was most likely because she had been playing the piano right beforehand, and when she was playing she had to let down all the walls. For Georgie, her talent lay in her emotions, and to mine deep enough for them to influence her music, she had to open her mind.

Still, she was practiced enough to force him out pretty quickly and then turn the strength of the push back on him. She had seen the surprise in his eyes, and she wondered if it was only a matter of moments before Severus decided to kick her out of Hogwarts, out of the magical place that took everything she had ever known to the next level.

Denny had made her go eventually. Two years of practicing under his tutelage, and then he had told her to go away and stay away. Georgie was sure it was because she had gotten too strong, strong enough to break through his barriers and to keep him out of her own. Seven years old and she had bested an old man. Of course, that was back when mental gymnastics was all she knew. She had put so much effort into furious mental training that she had never before associated with magic. That and intense practice at her instrument – that had been her life. But now there was more, so much more.

Georgie smiled.

She had always been good at besting people. Ambition did that to a person.

And this was certainly an interesting family. Surprise relatives, surprise lovers. Easy to use. Georgie had loved the way she had made her cousin Ariana shiver with one look. She'd have to be on her best behavior for a few weeks, keep the blond girl off track.

"Want to play a game?" she asked sweetly, once she and her cousin were alone in the bedroom. Ariana seemed to instantly warm up, smiling at the younger girl while she began to unpack the bag she had with her.

"I love games, but once I'm done here I have to go see the Headmaster. Why don't you come along? I'm sure he'll want to meet you. Maybe take some of the heat off me," she muttered.

"What's he like?" Georgie asked.

"He's the greatest wizard who ever lived. You'll like him. Everyone does."


	22. Quidditch World Cup

_I'm sorry I haven't updated in such a while. I've been busy getting back into a new semester. Forgive me...here's some more of the Snapes -_

* * *

Ariana Snape was jealous.

She crossed her arms over her chest and frowned, her eyes fixed on the couple seated at the hotel bar. From her vantage point in the lobby she could see the way his hand was holding the blond girl's. Ari's mum had insisted on finding the group of friends a nice muggle hotel while they were in Paris for the 421st Quidditch World Cup. Ariana had been delighted to room with her friend Angelina, and Fred, George, Lee and Bill were in a room just across the hall. She had been so ready for a glorious weekend full of brooms, baguettes, and Bill.

What Ariana had not anticipated was the beautiful French girl in the hotel lobby who just happened to catch Bill Weasley's eye. After dutifully checking in his charges at the concierge desk, he had waved them off to find the rooms and settled himself in for a stiff drink with a pretty girl.

"Ari, you ready to go? We thought we'd visit the Eiffel Tower before it gets too late."

Angelina appeared at her shoulder, her eyes bright with excitement. One look at Ariana's face and she raised her eyebrows.

"What's wrong?"

Ariana shrugged and turned to follow the other girl out of the hotel. "I guess I just thought Bill would come with us. My parents would have a fit if they knew a bunch of eleven year olds were running around Paris while our chaperone is flirting with a local."

"Hey, I happen to have turned twelve _last _October, and the twins have got it covered. They've both got maps of Paris and Lee has a French-English dictionary. We should be fine."

"It's the _should_ that worries me," Ariana joked, attempting to cover up the anguish of seeing her mega crush Bill with another girl.

The five almost-second-year Gryffindors managed to reach the Eiffel Tower with no trouble at all, and by the time they were standing at the top and staring out across the city with breathless faces, Ariana had almost forgotten about the eldest Weasley brother. Besides, tomorrow – tomorrow she would have him all to herself. Even if they would be surrounded by a stadium full of hundreds of thousands of wizards and witches.

Ariana leaned against the railing beside Fred, her eyes following the line of the Champs Elysee. She had to admit, it had been a lonely summer without the twins. She had written to them a few times, mostly about Georgie and what a sweetheart she had turned out to be, but writing letters wasn't the same as having them around all the time. They had been angered over her encounter with the Malfoys, a pureblood family that they absolutely hated. She had neglected to mention that they were related, but she figured it was all right to leave out that bit of information.

Several street lamps came on below, reminding Ari of the way Dumbledore had used a strange device to release spots of light into the lamps in his office when dusk had fallen on their visit. It had made her realize just how long she and Georgie had spent there, all those weeks ago.

_"Would you like a cup of tea, Ariana?" Dumbledore asked, motioning for her to take a seat at a small table set for teatime._

_ "Oh, no thanks, Professor. Georgie and I just ate lunch."_

_ "And you, Miss Rydel? Do you like tea?" He turned and fixed his gentle stare on the petite cousin who now shared her family. Georgie just shook her head and lowered her big green eyes, hiding their strangeness behind a layer of thick lashes. The girls took seats and Ariana watched as the famous wizard poured some tea into a tiny china cup and lifted it to his lips. She loved the way his long, delicate fingers held the little cup and how he closed his eyes as he drank, enjoying every bit of it._

_ He returned his gaze to Georgie. "Now, my dear. Do tell me how you came to be here."_

_ Ariana listened while her cousin softly recounted the death of her parents in a car accident and the arrival of a social worker who took her to a foster home for a few days until Mr. and Mrs. Snape had come for her. It was a simple story with very little detail and even less emotion. Ariana at least thought she might cry, but she didn't. She did keep her eyes fixed on the hands in her lap, refusing to look at the old wizard._

_ "Well, you're in good hands now and we are glad to have you. Do you have any questions for me?"_

_ Georgie shook her head._

_ "I see. If you ever do, you may come and see me anytime. Has it occurred to you that you may not speak of magic to any of your friends in the muggle world?"_

_ "Don't have any," Georgie whispered._

_ "Ah, well, if you ever do, please remember that you are bound to secrecy. Otherwise, you are free to move about the castle and the Hogwarts grounds." He turned next to Ariana. "I trust you had a nice visit with the Weasleys?" he asked, the glimmer of a twinkle in his eye. "I got a rather interesting owl from a friend of mine regarding your visit."_

_ Ariana swallowed and steeled herself for the inevitable reprimand. "I'm so sorry, Professor. We never would have gone if I hadn't thought that's what you wanted us to do. I had no idea that he had never heard of magic!"_

_ To her surprise, Dumbledore chuckled._

_ "You know, Ariana, I am pleased that Arabella Figg was around keeping a watchful eye on the boy like I asked her to, but I honestly had no idea you would try to see Harry."_

_ "You didn't?" she asked softly. _

_ "No. When I mentioned that your visit to Hagrid was a good idea I meant simply that. He was very much involved in the War and I thought he might provide you with good insight. I must say, going to Little Whinging, that was quite a bold move, even if you thought I had told you to do so. What did you think of Harry?"_

_ Ariana smiled and glanced at Georgie, who was drumming her fingers on the edge of the table like she was playing a piano._

_ "He was just so wonderfully ordinary and muggle-ish."_

_ "I'm glad you found him to be so. I'm rather fond of him myself, although I've never met him. I find ways to check in from time to time."_

_ "Professor, can you tell me more about him?" _

Dumbledore had spent the next few hours recounting stories about Harry's parents, about their time at Hogwarts, about their death. He talked at length about the Dursleys, Harry's only remaining family. Ariana heard his affection for the boy in the tone of his voice, even though they had not been in each other's presence since Harry was a baby. She and Georgie had stayed until dusk, until Georgie had fallen asleep with her head in Ariana's lap.

She was glad Dumbledore wasn't mad about her visit to Harry and all the more anxious to meet him when the time came. Even so, she couldn't quite give up on the idea that Dumbledore had known they would go see Harry. Based on everything her father had ever told her about the old wizard, it just didn't add up.

"You ready to go?" Angelina asked, "We ought to get back before it's full dark."

Ariana nodded and turned to follow her friend.

* * *

Raleigh leaned her head on Severus' chest and looked up at the puffy clouds above them. Picnicking in Paris had been a wonderful idea. Georgie was away at a muggle summer camp, despite her protests, and the Snapes were trying to enjoy their vacation and not worry too much about Ariana. They had spread out a blanket in the park and were napping away the afternoon.

"I suppose the match is going on right now," Raleigh mused. "I wonder if Peru might actually win this year. I admit I am a bit surprised that the United States made it all the way to the final of the World Cup, but they have an excellent Keeper, so it's hard to say who will come out on top."

She felt the rumble of Severus' chuckle beneath her cheek.

"Sometimes I forget how much you enjoy the sport," he murmured.

"And to think, I might've played professionally if—" Raleigh cut herself off, feeling a knot of tension grow in her stomach.

"If we hadn't gotten pregnant, if there hadn't been a war," Severus finished, and Raleigh didn't miss the aggressive tone in his voice.

Raleigh bit her lip and sat up, meeting her husband's eyes. "_If_ a lot of things," she retorted sharply. "Don't think I regret a single decision."

"Oh, but you do. You can't hide it from me. And you certainly couldn't hide it from Georgie."

"Drat Georgie and her prying mind. Where did she learn that anyway? You'd think she was a witch," Raleigh said, standing up and beginning to march away. At least twice since the girl had moved in with them Raleigh had suffered the pinching invasion of her mind. And it seemed Georgie had a knack for seeking out painful memories.

Severus was following her across the green, his long stride making it easy to catch up.

"You know I've talked with Dumbledore about that. He's said he'll look into it."

Raleigh stopped and massaged her forehead with her fingertips. She had expected a relatively peaceful summer of watering plants for Pomona and helping Ariana practice Quidditch. The addition of Georgie had added another layer of stress, and Raleigh still hadn't figured out what Lucius' business had been up at the school. It was hard for her to believe that her brother possessed none of the memories that she did, and it had frightened her to see him punishing her child.

"I'm sorry, Sev. I spoke without thinking. Let's just go on to _Le Chaudron Baveur_ and spend the evening there. I'm still hoping that my old friend from Beauxbatons can meet up with us."

The French version of the Leaky Cauldron was far more chic than the dumpy place back in London. It wasn't much to look at from the outside, but inside was a bustling French pub with a whole crowd of wizards watching the World Cup on a big screen. Peru was winning 120 to 115. The United States' Keeper had suffered a bludger to the leg and was flying rather erratically, and there was still no sign of the snitch.

Raleigh knew enough French to order a few butterbeers and just as she was returning to the table a silvery dog patronus rushed into the room and stopped at her side. Bill's voice came out sounding frantic:

"_Ariana is missing. She and Angelina went to buy some souvenirs and Angelina lost her in the crowd. She hasn't come back to our seats. We need help searching_."

Severus looked at Raleigh questioningly. "All right, so I told him we'd be in town just in case," she admitted. "Now let's go."

The couple rushed out the door and before another moment could pass Raleigh had apparated into the midst of the Quidditch arena. She scanned the wildly dressed crowd for any hint of a direction to take. Severus grabbed her shoulder tightly and bent his head to hiss in her ear. "I have a bad feeling about this. Let's be cautious."

* * *

_I realize not much happened this go round, but it is a set up for the next few chapters. Please stick with me!_


	23. Sick

_My apologies for the long wait. I have a million excuses, but none of them good enough. Also please forgive typos; I wanted to get this posted before going to bed. Thanks for reading!_

* * *

When Ariana woke she was shivering. Curling her legs up against her chest, she opened her eyes to darkness. As she regained consciousness a multitude of sounds met her ears: cheering, screaming, stomping feet. It sounded terribly far away and right up close at the same time. Eventually she realized that the noise was coming from above her. She blinked a few times but remained unable to see.

She shivered violently, and then an instant later she felt as if her skin was on fire. The sensation passed after a few moments and she returned to feeling like her blood was laced with ice. She crawled onto her hands and knees, realizing that she was sitting in mud. The entire left side of her body was smeared with it. Yes, it was certainly mud. It had to be. It couldn't possibly be the worse alternative. Slowly, her thoughts cleared and she remembered where she was. The Quidditch World Cup in Paris. She hadn't been feeling well and had left Angelina in line for souvenirs while she looked for a bathroom. She had fainted right as she began crossing the tiered seating and must have fallen below the stands through a gap in the seats. It was a long fall to the bottom. When pain pierced through the chills she realized her ankle might be broken.

She reached out in front of her and her hands met wood. Ariana blinked a few more times but remained in the black. She was certain that if everything was normal she would be able to see streams of light breaking through the seats up above.

At last she cleared her throat and managed to croak out: "Help!"

A raucous cheer was the only reply. Hadn't anyone seen her fall?

Again the fire, again the return to ice.

Ariana found her wand, and hoping against hope, she performed a small spell.

"Lumos!"

Nothing. All she could see was inky darkness in all directions. Determination filled her. She would not remain trapped. She pointed her wand in a random direction and summoned all of her Charms knowledge.

"Reducto!" she managed to whisper. A loud bang followed the spell and a burst of warm, summer air hit her in the face. Sunlight. At least, she should have seen sunlight. She crawled towards the breeze on aching limbs and another round of cheering assaulted her ears. As Ariana tumbled out of the hole in the stands and onto the green of the Quidditch pitch—far below the players up above—she felt the fire burn, and she fainted.

* * *

Severus was frantic. Twenty minutes and they still hadn't found her. He tried to remind himself that they were searching in a crowd of thousands, but he couldn't calm his pounding heart. The stupid Weasley boy wouldn't stop apologizing and Severus was tired of hearing "I'm sorry." The damn words kept breaking his concentration.

"Gag it, Weasley," he snarled over his shoulder before whipping his gaze back in front of him. Raleigh was cradling her arms against her chest, a sure sign that she was anxious, and he had no way of comforting her. He was just as concerned. Twenty minutes ago and they had been drinking butterbeer and wondering how to handle their earlier argument and now—now he could barely remember why they had fought.

A scream shattered his thoughts. It had come from one of the women he had just passed by. She screamed again, her eyes glued to the ground down below. He returned to her side in a rush, leaning over the railing and gritting his teeth at what he saw below the stands. A small, limp body. A small, limp body coated in blood.

"Don't look," he murmured softly, but it was too late. Raleigh screamed and apparated. He had just a moment to be grateful that she had kept her wits about her enough to apparate the wizarding way, and then he followed.

She was cradling Ariana in her lap, tears already coating her cheeks. He knelt down beside his wife and child, and he could hear the thunder of footsteps beginning to surround them. An eerie silence had fallen over the stadium and even the players had stopped flying.

"She's still alive," Raleigh whispered, using a hand to wipe some of the blood off of her daughter's face. "But she seems to have fainted, perhaps from blood loss, perhaps shock." His wife's voice was shaky but certain. "Severus, she's feverish. It's possible—"

She was cut off when Ariana's eyelids fluttered.

"Mum?" she whispered through dry lips.

"Yes, darling, mother is here. We're going to take you to St. Mungo's."

"Mum, I can't see."

By now the family was surrounded by a large crowd. Severus started to rise so that he could speak with the cluster of healers waiting to assist, but he was stopped by a hand on his thigh.

"Fever, blindness, fainting," Raleigh listed soullessly. "Those were my symptoms." Her voice cracked at the end and she gripped his wrist. "There is no time to waste."

"Raleigh, we cannot take her by normal apparition. The experience could make her ill, make her worse." He lowered his voice to hiss in her ear. "But for you to take her your way, in front of all these people—"

She nodded, lifting her daughter into her arms as though she weighed no more than a leaf.

"Out of my way!" Severus bellowed, raising his wand at any wizard who dared approach. The crowds parted, staring in awe at the injured girl and whispering amongst themselves about what might have happened. As quickly as she could, Raleigh carried her daughter out of the stadium, out through more whispering crowds, out behind a ticket booth where they couldn't be seen.

"Now," Severus murmured, and they were gone.

* * *

After they had passed Ariana into the care of the St. Mungo's healers Raleigh allowed herself to breath. She glanced at the waiting room chairs and remained standing, hands clenched at her sides.

"Eleven. She's only eleven, Severus. I was almost fifteen when I fell ill. Lucius said the same about the other women in my family. Ari's only eleven," she repeated. Severus pulled her into his arms, but he was stiff. He was afraid.

"Are you sure that's what's going on?" he asked. "Perhaps she's just sick."

"No, I'm not sure. But it's too much to be a coincidence."

A healer approached them and Raleigh read the bad news in the man's eyes.

"Three broken ribs, a broken ankle, a lot of blood loss from a gash on her head, severe fever, and she's still claiming no vision. Some dizziness and she's in and out of consciousness."

Raleigh turned and buried her head in Severus' chest. He stroked her hair and she heard the rumble in his chest as he spoke. "Do you have a diagnosis?"

"Nothing that explains her fever, although that is most likely the source of her other injuries. The high temperature produced fainting sensations resulting in a destructive fall. She likely sustained the wounds and breaks from the fall. Fever has also been known to cause blindness."

Raleigh faced the man, steadying herself for her next words.

"I'd like to see Yolanda Corning. Immediately. And perhaps you'd best owl my father, Mark Malloy. And my mother too, yes."

The healer nodded and skittered off, probably frightened by the hollow look in Raleigh's gray eyes.

"Severus, when my mother arrives would you send her to fetch Georgie from that camp? She's family, whether we like it or not, and Ariana is going to need her family before this is all over."

_Raleigh struggled up towards consciousness, battling the cobwebs in her mind for better access to her thoughts and feelings. She opened her eyes, and for the first time in what felt like an eternity, she wasn't staring into darkness._

_Shapes swam in her vision, and the harder she tried to focus the easier it became. The blurry images morphed into welcome faces. Her mum and dad were smiling down at her, their heads ringed in fuzzy white light that made them look like angels._

"_Hi, darling," her mother said, and with one last blink everything in her world snapped into focus._

"_I can see again," Raleigh breathed in delight. "And my fever's gone!" For the first time in a long time, she felt like herself again. _

"_Yes, we found a potion that would heal you. Do you remember meeting a phoenix yesterday?"_

_She vaguely remembered being woken up, placing a hand on warm feathers. The bird's heated plumage had steadied her chills. _

"_A phoenix?" she repeated. "Did the bird cry for me?"_

"_Yes," her mother said, and Raleigh saw tears in her eyes as well. "That beautiful bird cried tears straight into a glass vial and waited right here to make sure you had recovered. It just flew away not thirty minutes ago. Dr. Corning was very pleased with how the potion turned out. She says it is quite a miracle that you lived."_

_Raleigh turned her eyes to her father, who had been standing quietly beside the window._

"_Is it true, dad? No other potion could have healed me?"_

_He sighed and walked over to her bedside. "Yes, my dear, you were very very lucky. We were all certain that death was the only possible outcome. But that phoenix was here, waiting, before you even arrived at St. Mungo's. As if it knew. Of course, it took the healers a few days to allow it in the room. They wanted to exhaust all other options. Eventually Ms. Corning insisted. She has a special interest in phoenix tears."_

"_How long was I ill?"_

"_Four days," her mother answered._

Four days had seemed like a lifetime. Raleigh had never forgotten the searing heat of the fever, the way it had burned through her chills at unexpected moments. She had never forgotten the helplessness of not being able to see or the darkness of the world that had sucked her in. Conscious, she had been denied light. Unconscious, she had been denied thought.

And now Ariana, so much younger, so completely unprepared. With no solution in sight.

Raleigh had wracked her brain for answers in the days following Lucius' revelation that the sickness was hereditary. But she had been convinced that they had years to find a cure. Yes, she knew Dumbledore would help. He could bring Fawkes, and maybe the bird would decide to shed a few tears for her daughter. Still, Raleigh struggled with the idea that Ariana would most likely turn out with phoenix powers of her own. Her daughter didn't deserve the burden, especially so long as Raleigh was unsure about her own mortality.

A hand slipped into hers, and it was strong.

"I will see that she lives," Severus' voice said against the curve of her ear. And she believed him. Four days.


	24. Just a Few Broken Bones

Georgie was absently leafing through a book on composers when a tall, lanky counselor came up to her and said there was someone here to pick her up. He looked sort of uncomfortable, and Georgie wondered if it was merely her presence or something worse.

Georgie closed the book and tucked it into her knapsack, slowly untangling her legs from beneath the picnic table and rising to stand. "All right, I'm ready," she murmured. She followed him across a bright green field filled with screaming, playing children. Georgie hoped that no stray frisbees or balls would smack her in the head, and she grimaced as she felt the sun burning the back of her neck for the thousandth time that week. When they reached the administration cabin on the other side of the field she saw a small gray haired woman waving at her from the porch. The woman was wearing big sunglasses and bright orange pants with a floral print top, and Georgie had no idea who she was.

"You must be Georgie!" she exclaimed happily, and Georgie took a single step backwards. "Oh, goodness, and you have no idea who I am. I'm Clarice Malloy. I'm Raleigh's mother." The older woman smiled and made a gesture almost like she was going to hug her, but seemed to think better of it.

The lanky counselor put a hand on Georgie's shoulder and she immediately shrugged it off. "Mrs. Malloy is listed on your emergency contacts list which means she's allowed to take you home. Your guardian called about an hour ago to say she would be coming. Apparently someone in your family is sick."

Georgie frowned slightly. She had always been taught to never leave with a stranger, even if they claimed to be family or sent by someone she knew. There was usually some dorky password associated with identifying friend from kidnapper. She looked back at the old woman again, and her eyes landed on her earrings, which were in the shape of watering cans. She had to be harmless. A closer look revealed shiny gray eyes just like Raleigh's and Georgie was convinced.

"Well, my stuff is back at my cabin."

"Oh, no. It's all here, dear. This nice young man took the liberty of fetching it for me."

Georgie walked up to the porch and scrutinized her things. Everything seemed to be in order. "All right."

"We'll just be going then," Mrs. Malloy said to the counselor. "I parked the car a bit up the road, Georgie," she added.

Georgie collected her duffel and sleeping bag and marched down the road after Raleigh's mother, her mind already wandering back to the book she had been so abruptly taken from. Once they had crested a hill and could no longer see the cabin they had left from, Mrs. Malloy directed Georgie over behind some bushes.

"I didn't actually drive here," she said softly. "I came by portkey. Do you know what that is? Well, probably you don't, you're a muggle. I'm a muggle as well, but under the circumstances Severus made me a portkey." She pointed at a crumpled up ball of newspaper lying in the grass. "We both touch that at the same moment and we'll be taken back to London. Make sense?"

Georgie merely nodded, shifting her bags so that she had a free hand.

"Okay, on my count. One, two, three!"

* * *

Georgie hadn't expected this. Not six days ago she had seen Ariana looking perfectly healthy. Now, watching her lying in a bed, shivering and whimpering with pain…it was dreadful.

Georgie had planned on telling Severus that Ariana had a crush on Bill Weasley just before they left for Paris, but something had stopped her. Something had made her pocket the secret and let the Snapes send her off to freaking summer camp. She wasn't quite sure what had kept her mouth shut, but it was just sort of a feeling like she ought not to tell, that Ari didn't deserve the humiliation.

She was glad now that she hadn't said anything. Ariana would have hated her for it, and then it wouldn't have felt right to be here now. Georgie heard a throat clear behind her and a voice commanded. "Move."

Stepping aside, she watched while a dark-skinned woman in a healer's robes inspected Ariana. "That's Dr. Corning," Mrs. Malloy murmured to Georgie. "She's the doctor who treated Raleigh when she was sick. She's a specialist in untreatable maladies." Raleigh's mother spoke the last words in a hushed voice, but Severus had heard, and he whipped his head in their direction, his eyes large and angry.

"She's not doing any better," Dr. Corning announced, directing Severus' attention elsewhere. "I suggest you do everything you can to find Professor Dumbledore. Considering that nothing we've tried so far has helped, you may want to consider the phoenix potion we administered for Raleigh. If you can locate a phoenix…"

She waved her wand through the air and the temperature rose instantly about ten degrees.

"That should help with the chills. I'll be back in a few hours."

Once she had left the room Raleigh turned to her father, a tall, elegant sort of man with dark hair and a close-shaved beard.

"This is your fault," she said sharply, and Georgie heard the full measure of anger slipping through the accusation. Deciding to ignore the potentially intense conversation that was sure to follow, Georgie approached Ariana and tuned the argument out.

"Hey, Ari," she murmured when she was close enough. "Hey, open your eyes for a sec."

Ariana's eyelids fluttered briefly and then fell closed. "Can't see," she said, so softly that Georgie barely caught it.

"I know. But just open them for a sec."

She watched Ariana struggle, watched her seem to slide in and out of consciousness for a few moments, and then suddenly her bright blue eyes snapped open and Georgie dove in. She had refrained from invading Ari's thoughts because she had been trying to win the girl's trust, but now seemed like the right moment. In Georgie's experience, disease manifested itself clearly in the mind. Sick minds didn't protest or struggle against her. She sifted through memories for a little while, and eventually she found it.

It was big, much bigger than anything she had encountered in the past, and she wasn't sure if it was small enough to successfully bring out with her. Georgie clenched her fists, and with huge effort, she pulled out, surprised to find herself trembling when she reentered the room at St. Mungo's after mere minutes.

She did a mind rinse and immediately felt better. Denny really had taught her well. Magic of the mind had powers that even these wizards couldn't understand.

Then she heard the voices. It seemed like everyone in the room had suddenly come to life and all of them were talking and shrieking at once. Ariana was sitting up in bed, looking like she had a slight headache but no worse for wear. She still had some broken bones and bruises, but those were easy enough to heal. It took her family all of three seconds to realize that something had changed, and then Raleigh was hugging her daughter, Severus was almost in tears, and the grandparents swooped in for hugs of their own.

Georgie stood to the side, running her mind through a second rinse just in case any of the sickness had latched on, but she felt all right. It had gone well. Once the general surprise and celebration had dulled, all eyes turned to Georgie, and she felt a strong impulse to turn and run. Instead she just raised her luminous eyes to the confused faces and waited for the inevitable questions.

"What did you do?"

Ariana was the first to speak, and she sounded merely grateful, the fever and blindness having left her body. Georgie dropped her eyes to the floor, gently tapping the heel of her sneaker against the carpet.

"When I was seven I learned mind manipulation from a master. One of the things we practiced was stealing. Stealing thoughts, ideas, memories, and sometimes other things, like sicknesses." Georgie looked up briefly and then dropped her eyes again. "Most illness is in the body, it's physical, you know, like a virus or an infection. But some sickness manifests solely in the mind, and when you're inside someone's head you can sense it, touch it, and remove it."

Five voices asked questions at once, and Georgie shut her eyes against the barrage of words. Honesty had never been her strong suit, but this family – her family – was owed an explanation.

"I thought it couldn't hurt to try, to see if I could help. I was just lucky."

"Who taught you?" Severus asked, his voice cutting through all the others.

Georgie swallowed. "An old man. We met –"

She was cut off by a knock on the door and shortly thereafter a whole slew of red heads had filled the room.

* * *

"Ariana, dear, you're all right!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed. "We were so very worried about you. Bill said you had a fall at the match and weren't feeling well. The boys left Paris straightaway and we've been waiting for hours to see you."

Severus realized that no one besides his family had any idea that Ariana was struck ill by an inexplicable hereditary malady. All they knew was that she had been injured. The rest of the family seemed to understand that it was not to be mentioned for fear of exposing Raleigh, and the Georgie matter was dropped while Ariana received her well-wishers. Now she was merely an invalid with a few broken bones instead of a girl on the verge of death.

He listened while Fred and George recounted the rest of the match – said they'd heard it all on the radio while they were waiting. USA's Seeker Billy Arnold had caught the snitch and won his team the cup by a mere 20 points.

When Severus thought again of Georgie she had disappeared, no doubt seeking an exit from the bustle of the room. Her brief explanation had cleared up some of the mystery of her abilities, but he still couldn't fathom mind manipulation of such magnitude. It took Legilimency to a whole new level, and he wasn't certain just how to react. And yet he was grateful, so completely grateful.

His eyes fell on his daughter, who just hours before had been streaked with blood and left in a world of darkness. He had felt with such certainty that he was going to lose her. He remembered a time in his life when family had meant absolutely nothing to him. He had hated anything to do with family, and the seductive appeal of dark magic had sucked him in. Ariana made him better, and the thought of losing his beautiful child had been almost more than he could endure.

"Um, Professor Snape," a voice said softly, and he turned and met the eyes of Bill Weasley. "I just wanted to say once again that I'm sorry I let the girls out of my sight. If not for me this might never have—"

"She's fine, Mr. Weasley," he said, perhaps a bit too harshly. "She's just fine," he added in a lowered voice, and somehow he knew the words had calmed the young man's guilt. He watched Bill return to Ariana's side, his little girl surrounded by people who loved her.

Raleigh's hand slid into his and he felt her press against his side, releasing a gush of air as if she had been holding her breath for a very long time.

"I don't know what Georgie did," she whispered, "But I'm glad it's over. I was beginning to think Ariana would turn out just like me."

He squeezed her hand and pressed a kiss to her temple. "That wouldn't have been so bad," he teased, "I rather like you. What I don't understand is how Georgie can practice such magic if she's not a witch. Dumbledore said there have been no indications that she's anything other than a muggle."

Raleigh shrugged. "Whatever she is, I don't know whether to be comforted or terrified. But she's ours, and we'll find out eventually. All I know is that today she stepped in here and saved Ariana with no hesitation and no ceremony. We'll always be in her debt, no matter who she turns out to be."

* * *

_It's really okay to review, I promise I don't bite. If you like it - say so! If you don't - let me know so I can try to make some changes! Thanks!_


	25. Three Years Later

_A/N: I have taken artistic license and jumped ahead three years in my timeline. This is mainly because I enjoy writing flashbacks and feel that I can better convey what happened in the intervening years in such a fashion. Anyways, here are the Snapes, three years later:_

_

* * *

_

**Three Years Later**

Fourteen-year old Ariana Snape wished (and not for the first time) that underage wizards were allowed to use magic. Then she could have folded her laundry with a swish of her wand and been on her merry way. Then she might not have had to listen to the impatient little sighs of her sister as she paced around the room waiting for Ariana to be done.

Sometimes Ariana still felt little bits of Georgie floating around in her brain. She would have moments where she realized that Chopin was the composer of a piece of music Georgie was playing… and Ariana had never known anything about classical music. Other days she would look at Georgie and images would blast into her consciousness – images of Georgie's childhood.

Despite the strangeness of knowing that her adopted sister/second cousin lurked in the corners of her mind, Ariana was grateful to Georgie for daring to save her. This was the summer, mum had reminded her, that the illness _should_ have been. This summer before her fifth year had been the anticipated date. Instead she was completely healthy and happy.

A top Potions student, a Chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and a sort of mentor to Harry Potter, Ariana sometimes felt as though she had everything she could want. Even this summer's Azkaban breakout and the threat of Sirius Black had done little to upset her. Of course, it wasn't nothing, and Ariana could tell that her mother (who had been mates with Black back in the day) was preoccupied by the matter. Her father had merely said not to mention it to Harry – Dumbledore's orders – and had dropped it.

"Are you girls ready?" her mother's voice called from outside Ariana's open doorway.

"Yeah, just a second," she replied. It was Georgie's thirteenth birthday. They had missed it the first summer she came to live with them because of the upheaval surrounding Ari's illness. No one had bothered to ask when Georgie's birthday was, and Georgie had neglected to mention that she had turned ten while she was at summer camp. They had more than made up for it the following summer when Georgie had received her Hogwarts letter.

By then they hadn't been all that surprised. Her magical mental abilities had been tested and re-tested by first Dumbledore and then her father. Georgie could never really tell them just who "Denny" was, but she had been taught tremendously well. Of course, that didn't make getting Georgie her first wand any less exciting.

_"Ollivander's. I haven't been in here since I was ten years old. I'll never forget the way it felt to hold my wand for the first time. It's too bad mum and dad couldn't come. You really would think seeing you get a wand would be more important than some Hogwarts staff meeting," Ariana mused, and then she gave Georgie a little shove towards the door._

_ Unfortunately, Georgie had been in one of her dreamy states, and Ari's small shove sent her flying forward and straight into a small boy on his way out of the shop. Ariana recognized him at once. _

_ "Why you're Harry Potter!" she exclaimed, gently pushing Georgie into the shop and shutting the door. _

_ The dark haired boy stared up at her out of round glasses, his eyes struggling for recognition. "Do I know you?" he asked._

_ "Oh, um, not really. I go to Hogwarts. I'm Ariana Snape."_

_ "What do you mean, not really?" he asked, scrunching up his face. "Everyone here seems to know me, and I'm not sure why."_

_ "Well, I came to your house once. About a year ago actually. To try and meet you. Anyways, I have to go help my sister. See you at school!"_

_ He looked so puzzled, and Ariana felt rather bad just leaving him standing there, but she didn't wanted to miss Georgie's wand choosing her, and Harry clearly still needed time to process everything. She was again struck by how ordinary he was, how little he knew of his place in the wizarding world._

How very wrong she had been. Harry was certainly not ordinary. The last two years had taught her that. Ariana's eventual friendship with Harry had only one flaw – her father. While he had been more than proud to see his adopted daughter sorted into Slytherin at the start of term feast, Ariana secretly wondered if that good news alone had balanced out his absolute distress over the arrival of one Harry James Potter. No matter how he had tried to wipe his face of emotion, the hatred had shone through. Her mum had to spend several hours explaining to Ariana just why he so utterly loathed such a nice young boy.

"Five minutes and we're gone!" her mother's voice called again, and Ariana shoved the last of her socks helter-skelter into a drawer.

"All right, Georgie. Let's go."

The tall red-head – almost as tall as Ariana – granted her a thankful smile. If they hadn't spent nearly thirty minutes braiding Georgie's hair, they wouldn't have been so late with the laundry, but Ari was forgiving.

As much as it could be a pain to have a little sister in Slytherin – friends with her horrible cousin _Malfoy_ no less – Ariana couldn't help but be glad to have Georgie around this summer. Georgie had been one of the students petrified by the basilisk when the Chamber of Secrets was opened, and it had been a long few months without hearing strains of beautiful piano music wafting through the Hogwarts corridors.

Losing her favorite know-it-all Hermione had been hard enough, but life without Georgie had become unthinkable. She was eternally grateful to Harry and Ron for solving the whole business. It was doubtful her father felt the same, as he had often mentioned that it was really Professor Sprout who had de-petrified his daughter.

* * *

Severus was frowning when his family came into the living room. The silver, the blond and the red were all dressed in clean robes and Georgie even had her hair plaited. Severus wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that they might be running into Draco Malfoy in Diagon Alley.

He wouldn't have minded. He had really grown to like the pale blond boy, even though he despised Lucius. Watching Draco and Georgie antagonize the Potter boy and his rule-breaking friends was often the highlight of his Potions class. Severus was rather impressed that Georgie's muggle-born status had made no difference to Draco. Perhaps it was that she was family, and somehow, mud-blood or not, Draco had taken a liking to her. Severus guessed it was her overpowering ambition, if not her subtle skills at manipulating people.

"What's wrong, Sev?"

Raleigh's voice broke into his thoughts and he his mind returned to the parchment in his clenched fist.

An owl from Dumbledore had informed him that he was once again passed over for Defense Against the Dark Arts. While he had grown used to the disappointment, the news of Lockhart's successor had practically knocked the breath out of him. What's more, Severus couldn't help but be suspicious, knowing that Black was on the loose and Dumbledore was allowing the murderer's best friend inside the castle. Not to mention that he was a werewolf. Or his wife's old affair.

"Just an owl from Dumbledore. Nothing important," he fibbed, and he would have gotten away with it were it not for a sharp look from Georgie. Damn her Legilimency prowess. He scowled at her, but she didn't flinch and simply kept her bright Lily-green eyes on his face.

"He's hired for Defense Against the Dark Arts," he muttered, feeling a bad taste enter his mouth.

"I suppose from your mood we're to assume it's not you?" Georgie asked in her usual pointed fashion.

"No," he said, biting off the word and refusing to meet Raleigh's eyes.

"Who's he hired instead?" Ariana asked, and he didn't miss the excitement in her voice. She had thought that idiot Lockhart was dreamy. No doubt she anticipated an equally handsome replacement.

It took a surprising amount of effort to let the name pass from his lips.

"Remus Lupin."

He heard Ariana's quiet intake of breath. He lifted his gaze to meet Raleigh's. He saw the shock in her eyes, and he knew it was a look that wouldn't go away anytime soon.

"We're late," he snapped. "Your grandparents are meeting us at Flourish and Blotts in ten minutes, and we haven't even apparated to the Leaky Cauldron yet."

He knew more words would come, but he wanted to wait. He wanted to wait until his anger had subsided. He wanted to wait until they were alone. And yet he felt the jealousy raging like a tidal wave inside of him, and as much as he tried to cut it off, the way he had done for over ten years, it was threatening to bring him down.

Raleigh's hand slipped into his, and it was ice cold.

"Both of you grab onto my arm," she told the girls, and soon the whole family was standing outside of the Leaky Cauldron, the warm buzz of the apparition already faded.

"Why don't you dears go on with grandpa and grandma? Your father and I will be along after while."

Severus could tell the girls had felt the sudden tension. They moved off without any questions, but he was sure that Ariana would be explaining everything to Georgie as soon as they were out of earshot. He turned to his wife, trying to sense how she was reacting despite the distraction of the fire in his blood.

He watched as the lines of her mouth hardened and she raised her head to meet his gaze.

"This changes nothing," she said firmly. "Nothing is any different than it was five minutes ago. I still love you more than life, I am still your wife, and you are still my husband."

Severus accepted the words with a quiet relief.

"But Severus," she said softly, "I cannot keep him from Ariana. He loved her once as his own child, and I believe that will not have changed. Do not ask me to stand between them if he once again feels the fatherly tug."

Severus didn't respond, merely shoved away the "but" at the beginning of her sentence and pulled her close against him.

"Things are changing, Raleigh," he whispered. "As soon as Harry arrived everything began to change. You-Know-Who is still a threat, and I have become merely a pawn in a very large game of death. I am Dumbledore's servant until whatever end. And I fear for what all of this means, especially Black's escape."

It was a long speech for a man of few words, but Severus felt the truth and he knew Raleigh had too. "He wouldn't –" she started to say, but cut herself off.

"I will not forbid you to see him. That would be childish. But I ask that you be wary. I have no intention of trusting him, and I will have no hesitation in exposing him should I feel he is enough of a threat."

He heard her swallow and then felt her nod against his chest.

"All right, then," she said, lifting her head. "Let's go buy some school books. I was thinking Georgie might like an owl for her birthday."

Severus knew the conversation was over, and he went inside with her hand firmly placed in his. His little Slytherin was thirteen today, and he wasn't going to let the past get in the way of celebrating.

* * *

Raleigh felt the pain of the lie as soon as it left her lips. The news of Remus _had _changed things. And yet she did love Severus, more than ever, and she had put the past behind her long ago. Still, the impending arrival of Remus had struck her, simply because she had never thought to see him again. After so many years, she couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to stand in his presence. Would he despise her? Would he still love her? Could they be friends?

The deeper questions she held at bay as her fingers wove through Severus'. She refused to consider if Remus was involved in Sirius' escape. She refused to ask herself if she still loved Remus, if there was danger in his coming.

She fought with herself, and in the end her heart warmed for her husband, and her girls. They had survived so much already these past few years. They would survive this too.


	26. Fire and Moonlight

Raleigh walked through the crowded corridors, her mind in turmoil.

He was here. He had come on the train and he was here. All those weeks of waiting, and now he was finally here. Dumbledore had asked her to be in charge of brewing his wolfsbane. She still wasn't quite sure why she had said yes. Raleigh took a deep breath.

He had come on the train and he was here.

It was worse than the dementors, worse than worrying about Sirius Black. Worse. This. was. worse.

Why oh why had Dumbledore hired _him _as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, when Dumbledore _knew _Severus wanted the job. Raleigh tried to ignore the small voice that said "because he's an excellent wizard and an excellent man." She would not go there, not ever.

"Mrs. Snape?"

Raleigh almost jumped out of her skin at the sound. It was just a kid, just a second year looking a little frightened. "Yes, dear, what is it?"

The boy held out a piece of parchment. "For you, ma'am. I was told to give this to Mrs. Snape." He shoved the paper at her and ran. Raleigh had to smile. Her husband certainly made it hard for any of the Hogwarts students to like her. They must think she was as terrifying as he was. It probably didn't help that she spent most of her days in the kitchens, not giving them much of a chance to get to know her.

She realized that she was still standing in a corridor. It was the first day of classes, and too many students were running amok for her to be just standing in a corridor. She was on her way to the kitchens. She should have just apparated but she wasn't thinking clearly.

She stepped into an empty classroom and opened the piece of parchment.

_My dear Raleigh,  
_

_I would very much like to see you. I guess you're avoiding me, not being at the Sorting and all. Severus made angry eyes at me the whole time, but I guess I can't blame him. I'm just glad he didn't try to strangle me. Raleigh, I'm here because – well, I guess I'm not really sure why I'm here – I think because Dumbledore asked me, and when he asks you shouldn't really say no. I don't want you to think I came to try and win you back. It's been over ten years. I'd like to put the past to rest. Can we meet? This morning if possible. I have my first class at eleven and it might calm my nerves to see you. I'll be in my office if you manage to stop by._

_Yours,_

_RJ_

RJ. He just _had _to sign it RJ. Raleigh took a deep breath and pocketed the note. She glanced at her watch. Ten o'clock. She resisted every impulse to stop in the girl's lavatory and check herself in the mirror. She wouldn't care how she looked. Her lavender robes looked just fine.

When she reached the stairway that would either take her down to the kitchens or up to Remus' office she paused. She sighed. She couldn't very well avoid Remus all year. Up it was.

By the time she was reaching out a hand to knock it was trembling. Memories did that to a person. It was just the memories, Raleigh told herself, nothing more. She tapped lightly on the piece of wood that separated her from Remus "RJ" Lupin and closed her eyes.

The door flew open almost instantly, and the barrier was gone.

He looked – tired. Drab. Worn. Weary. Dingy. Good.

Before she could say a word he had pulled her into a hug. The door banged closed and created a new barrier, one that separated them from the outside world. She felt her back crash against it, felt hot breath on her neck, felt the flush rise up and move quickly to redden her cheeks. For a moment she feared that she would have to shove him away, and her mind raced to try and think of a spell that might help her hold him off.

Raleigh remembered the way he could turn into an animal like the flick of a switch.

But then she realized that he was just hugging her. Just hugging her – if rather violently.

"I wasn't sure if you would come," he mumbled, finally releasing her. He took a step back and she noticed new scars on his face, on his hands.

"RJ," she said softly, dropping her gaze to the floor. "I would like to put the past to rest. Like you wrote. I'm just – "

"I've missed you," he said loudly, breaking her from her thoughts. "I know now that I'm meant to be alone. That no one is fit to love a werewolf, but I've still missed you."

Raleigh furrowed her brow. What was he talking about, not being fit to be loved? It was nonsense. All these years… he would have made someone a wonderful husband. Quiet, calm, good. He was so very good. She had missed him too. Deep down, she knew she had ill-used him, and it made her wonder if she had somehow broken him, or if he had done this to himself. All those years ago, she had run to him, shared her child with him, shared his bed, and then she had dropped him to go back to a man who had lied to her, treated her like hell, and served the Dark Lord himself. A man that Remus and his friends had always disliked.

She hadn't been fair. And he had paid for it all this time.

"RJ, that's not true." Her voice grew indignant. "That is _not true._ You are a wonderful man, well worth the love of a good woman. You really are."

She had come closer to him, almost reached out a hand to brush the caramel colored hair out of his eyes. He had grown a mustache, she noticed. The scar on his cheek was fresh, pronounced. "Oh, RJ," she whispered softly, and couldn't help the hand that stroked his cheek, couldn't help the way he leaned into her touch like an animal starved for affection.

No. She let her hand drop. No. This would not happen again. She had hurt him enough.

When he spoke his voice was harsh, steely. It didn't sound like him at all.

"You branded me, Raleigh. I thought," he swallowed. "I thought that you would stay. I thought that you, and me, and Ariana would be a family. I did," his voice died to almost a whisper, "I really did."

"Branded you?"

He grabbed her hand and forced it beneath the sweater he was wearing, forced it up to his chest, right above his heart. Her hand fit perfectly into a large scar. Scar tissue left over from a burn. She remembered. She remembered the way his fingers had ripped through the flesh on her back and the way her hands had burned away a deep layer of his skin. She remembered the smell of his charred flesh, the way he had howled when her red hot palms had met his already scarred body.

She remembered the kind of passion that had caused her to burn so fiercely. To bleed so freely.

_His lips were hot on her neck, his fingers seeming to be in ten places at once. Raleigh groaned as his teeth tugged gently on her earlobe. She started to unbutton his shirt and he flinched a little as her quickly warming hands slid over the bare skin of his shoulders. He returned her groan with a growl of his own, and soon his nimble fingers were tugging her dress over her head, revealing the naked body beneath. He grinned at her and she quirked a lip in return. _

"_Not a stitch on underneath, Raleigh? Really, what would the neighbors think?" His mouth returned to hers with all the intensity she had come to expect, his tongue dancing with hers as she explored the muscles of his arms and torso with her tingling hands. He was not bulky, but sinewy, and she had grown to love the hardened contours of his body._

_ "Raleigh," he whispered thickly, his lips skating across her cheek. He nipped at her jawbone and she arched against him. The friction become too much to bear and Remus slipped out of his pants, sliding into her with a practiced thrust. Again and again until she screamed, her hands catching fire and blistering the flesh of his back just as he released. His hands clawed as the pain mingled with the pleasure, and only when it was over did he feel the blood on his hands, feel the torn flesh of her back beneath his fingertips. _

_ "I'm sorry," he whispered, but she merely smiled and laid a blazing hand right above his heart. He heard the sizzle of his charring flesh, smelled the smoky air, but he felt no pain. He let loose a howl. He was happy. Perfectly happy. _

Her palm grew sweaty, pressed against the old scar on his chest, and her heart started to beat furiously. And still he held her there, made her feel it, made her remember how raw it had been, made her remember how he had loved it, been proud of it, promised her to always keep the scar above his heart.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, and still he held her hand there. She could feel the steady pounding of his heart, feel the soft hairs that covered his thin chest, feel the strong grip of his fingers around her wrist, clinging like he would never let go.

Finally he spoke, letting her hand slip out of his, slip out from under his sweater and, trembling, move to lay at her side.

"I spent months trying to figure out how to win you back. What I might do, what I might say to get you to return. But I'm here now, and I've survived all these years without you. Even if I have to see you every day in this castle, I am determined to put you behind me. Teaching is my focus now, and Harry. Someone needs to teach him about patronuses."

"What will you do about Ariana?" she asked softly, the warmth of his flesh still on her hand.

"Ariana means nothing to me," he said, but she caught the pain in his words. "She is a teenager now, not the little girl that I used to know. She might as well be a different person."

Raleigh shook her head and wished with all her might that she didn't feel the ache in her bones that came with the memories.

"She's very much the same. She's been through a lot these past few years, but she remains as sweet and lovely as she ever was. She's spoken of you, when her father isn't around."

His face softened almost imperceptibly, but she noticed the slight change. He wasn't as tough as he was pretending to be. Ariana had meant a lot to him.

"It's time for class," he said, turning away and shuffling some papers on his desk.

Raleigh released a small sigh and murmured her good-bye.

"I hope your first class goes well. And Remus, I would like to catch up some time, tell you about my girls."

She watched him stiffen.

"I have two now. Georgie is our younger. Adopted," she added. "She's Harry's year. Slytherin."

His back was still to her, and she turned to let herself out.

"Full moon is in two weeks," he said as she placed her hand on the doorknob. "Will you help?" The question was full of meaning, full of an entirely different unanswered question.

"Yes," she said without looking at him. "I will always be your friend."

He took a step towards her. "I'm trying to move on, Raleigh. I'm trying to let you go." She heard the small intake of breath before his final words. "I want to tell you not to leave. I want to tell you how difficult it is to stand in a room with the person you love more than yourself, who you have spent over a decade trying to forget, and not be able to kiss her, taste her, feel her heartbeat. But instead I will let you go, because it is best for both of us."

Raleigh felt tears swim in her eyes. She had always loved how raw he was once he opened up. He was such a sensitive and caring individual, yes, and terribly, utterly good.

"Good-bye, RJ."

And she was out the door, alone in the classroom. Her feet felt heavy, and part of her wanted to run back to him. She had not forgotten the feel of his lips or the sound of his breath in her mouth. It would be so easy to fall through a door in time to another life, one where Remus John Lupin was the center of her world. She remembered how his breath would be ragged in her ear, how her tongue would scrape the rough stubble of his cheek. Animals, they had always been animals when they were together. Perhaps it had been the influence of the animals whose magic they shared. Phoenix and wolf, feathers and fur, fire and moonlight.

She remembered how his mouth would ravish hers as though he was desperate to have her. Her hands would flood with heat, and then her feet, her nose, her ears. Even the tips of her hair would begin to crackle. Raleigh swallowed the saliva in her mouth and forced her feet to move towards the classroom door.

It was all behind her now, those long months of dissolving into Remus to try and forget Severus Snape. Her heart throbbing, she slipped out into the corridor.

"They're only memories," she whispered to herself. "Just memories."


	27. An Unlikely Pair

Georgie leaned forward to rest her head on the desk. As usual, she was the first one after Hermione Granger to complete the transfiguration assignment. Her daisy had been successfully transfigured into a wristwatch.

"Miss Rydel, please sit up. I'm sure some of your classmates could use a little help." Professor McGonagall's sharp voice sounded from just above her. Georgie blinked her eyes at the professor and slowly sat up.

"I guess I can help Malfoy," she muttered, glancing over at her cousin's daisy, whose petals had turned to glass.

She realized that Draco's gaze was on Harry Potter, his light-colored eyes full of dislike. Earlier in the week Harry had made quite a show of riding Hagrid's hippogriff, and Draco's jealousy had resulted in a broken arm. Georgie thought he was making quite a fuss over nothing, but she and Draco had never argued before, and so she put up with his whining this time.

"You know, Draco," she murmured, "It's not your wand arm that's broken. You really shouldn't be having this much trouble. Besides, Harry can't go to Hogsmeade this weekend and we can. Doesn't that make you feel better?"

He merely scowled, a look that she found suited his sharp features rather well.

"Suit yourself," she said with a shrug, and turned to help Goyle instead.

Some days, Georgie's friendship with Draco seemed impossible. He was a pureblood. She was muggleborn. He was a bully and a snob and often unbearably male, whereas Georgie was subtle, understated. She worked hard to keep her ambition and intentions in check. Magic – she really thought it was magic that united them – magic and maybe just a hint of family, although they rarely talked about the fact that they were cousins, of a sort.

And Slytherin, of course; it was a part of who they were. Georgie found that being sorted into Salazar Slytherin's house made little sense to her at first. Home of the purebloods, while she was born without a drop of wizard blood. And yet that was where the hat sent her, on that memorable first day.

_"Relax, Georgie. I swear I've never seen you so agitated. Not once."_

_ Ariana was helping her into her school robes for the Start of Term Feast, but Georgie simply could not stand still. She wanted to pace around the room, splay her fingers across her piano keys and bang bang bang until every thought had left her head. _

_ Georgie's eyes met Ariana's and she watched the older girl take a step backwards. Even now, three years later, her eyes still had that effect on people. _

_ "I'm fine," she insisted, dropping her gaze and clenching her fists. "I just want it to be over." Her words came out in a grumble._

_ Ariana just smiled in her normal, kindly way._

_ "I was nervous before my sorting, too. Mostly because I didn't want to end up in Hufflepuff. Of course, now, with Cedric Diggory so delectably gorgeous I rather wish I had," she laughed. Georgie watched Ariana straighten her scarlet and gold tie and primp a little in the mirror._

_ "Don't be ridiculous, Ari. You know Oliver Wood would charm dragons and giants to be with you. Besides, I'm no doubt going to end up in Ravenclaw and that will be that."_

_ Georgie turned when she heard Severus' deep chuckle in the doorway._

_ "My dear girl, you are Slytherin through and through, minus a little deficit of wizarding blood. I have utter faith that the Sorting Hat will see you where you belong. Houses are more than just blood – they're character. And you have the cunning and ambition in spades."_

_ Thirty minutes later when Professor McGonagall called "Rydel, Georgiana," she wasn't so sure about anything. Magic, Hogwarts, wands, wizards, the whole thing seemed insane._

_ When the Sorting Hat fell over her ears she felt its magic oozing past all of her mental defenses and straight into the heart of her fears. Then a rather persistent voice rang in her head._

_ "Really, you shouldn't struggle so. Occlumency is no good against me. How else am I suppose to know where you belong?" Georgie stubbornly resisted, but the hat's magic was powerful, and it nipped at the parts of her that she loved best and was most proud of._

_ "Well, I can't say it will be easy. No, there is always danger for Slytherins. But it is where you fit, nowhere else. SLYTHERIN!"_

_ And it was over. Georgie closed her eyes in disbelief and then walked slowly over to the Slytherin table. _

_ "But she's a mudblood!" Georgie heard a voice say in protest._

_ "Shut up, Parkinson," another voice said, and a white blond head turned to look at her. "You weren't on the train, were you?" It was Draco, Ariana's cousin. She had watched him get sorted. He didn't seem entirely antagonistic._

_ Georgie shook her head and stood awkwardly by the table while "Thomas, Dean" and "Weasley, Ronald" were sorted. No one moved over to make a seat. _

_ "I live here. My dad is a professor," she said, suddenly feeling the strength to glare at the girl who had called her mudblood._

_ Then Draco nodded, and Georgie thought she saw a trace of understanding in his blue eyes. "Well, sit down then." And he scooted to his left and smiled. "I'm Draco Malfoy."_

Two years later, Slytherin was home, and no one dared tease her about her lack of wizarding ancestry. The Slytherins loved Snape, and by extension they grew to love her, especially because her sharp comments kept the other students off balance. They treated her like pureblood royalty, almost as though they had been tricked into forgetting that she came from the muggle world. Georgie had been the only Slytherin petrified by the basilisk, but somehow the attack had only served to reinforce their loyalty to her. It was a power that Georgie barely comprehended, and yet something about her exuded authority. She always had a ready band of followers.

Draco was more of an equal. Her plans always involved his input, and their dislike of Harry, Ron, and Hermione regularly put them on the same side of an ugly rivalry.

Draco elbowed her in the side and she turned back from Goyle's miserable attempt at transfiguration. His daisy had somehow sprouted thorns.

"What?" she hissed, keeping an eye on McGonagall who was lecturing Longbottom about something.

"I know it's only the first week back, but what do you think about coming to the Manor for the Christmas holidays? There's something I want to show you at home."

Georgie actually had to resist letting her jaw drop. "Draco, you know your father hates me and my whole family. Why on earth would he welcome me into his home?"

The scowl returned to Draco's face. "Fine then. Don't come. I just thought you might like to see it."

"See _what_?" Georgie said, a bit too loudly.

"That's quite enough disruption, Miss Rydel. Five points from Slytherin."

Georgie didn't miss the smirk from Granger.

* * *

Severus glanced at Lupin and felt his fingers grip a little more tightly on his goblet. Even though the professor sat at the far end of the table, as far away from Severus as he could get, it did little to soothe the hatred.

Time had not erased a single thing the werewolf had done, not him or his equally despicable friends. Just knowing that Black was roaming free made Severus sick with anger.

"Severus, can Draco and I borrow some eye of newt from your potions stores?"

He shifted his gaze to the lovely young teenager standing gracefully in front of him. She actually let out a small giggle, which was so utterly extraordinary coming from Georgie that Severus had to wonder for a moment if he was imagining it.

"Sorry," she said, catching herself, "I just never thought I'd say 'eye of newt' seriously in my entire life."

Her hair was no longer stick straight as it had been when she was younger. Now it fell in long red waves and her bright green eyes were more penetrating than ever. Between Georgie and her mini-me Ginny Weasley—who Severus simply couldn't dislike—he felt like he came face to face with Lily Potter on a daily basis. Not to mention Harry himself looking like a young James and blinking up at him with Lily's eyes, plus Lupin and Black invading his thoughts. It was as if the woman's ghost was determined to haunt him.

"Yes, all right, Georgie. I have no doubt you know the spell to unlock my stores, but it is kind of you to ask."

He allowed the corner of his mouth to twitch up into a proud smirk before waving her away. It was only then that he caught a glimpse of Ariana walking out of the Great Hall with Lupin, her slim arm slipped casually through his.

He didn't have to guess or assume, he _knew_. Ariana had recruited her sister to do the dirty work of distracting him. It was the sort of deceit that Georgie simply couldn't say no to. She lived for the art of deception just as surely as any Slytherin he had known.

Feeling the heat rise up into his cheeks, he rose from the table and in a few long strides was following them out the door.

"Thanks so much for agreeing to help Harry with patronuses," Ariana was saying when he caught up to them. They were standing in the shadow of a stairwell, but their conversation was loud enough that he could hear. "When he told me how the dementors had affected him I told him I would try to help, but my patronus is still weak, even as a fifth year."

"Well, I certainly believe Harry is special," Lupin replied, his voice as soft and calm as Severus remembered. Severus rolled his eyes. If he had a galleon for every time he'd heard someone say how special Harry was.

"He's not like I expected, back when he was just a name in a history book," Ariana replied, and Severus could hear the admiration in her voice. Was he the only one who simply couldn't understand the boy wizard's appeal? "Most days he seems so normal, just another Gryffindor kid trying to finish one of dad's ridiculously long Potions essays—" Severus grimaced. It wasn't like Ariana to dismiss Potions as 'ridiculous.' "—but then he'll go and jump through a trapdoor or fight a giant snake. I still can't figure him out." She laughed.

"Promise me you'll be careful, Ariana," Lupin said, his voice hushed. "Black is dangerous, and being close to Harry only puts you in his way."

"Don't worry, Professor. I've been through my fair share of danger already. I'm not anxious for anymore."

"You'd better get on and study. Sounds like you've got a tough year with OWLs on the horizon."

"I'm not too worried."

"Tell your mum hello from me."

Severus didn't miss the longing in Lupin's tone.

"I'll let her know you still think of her," Ariana replied softly. "To hear her speak of you," she sighed, "I know you meant so much to us both…back in the darker days of the war. I'm glad I get the chance to know you now."

Severus watched their shadowy figures hug and the old scar on his heart felt like it had begun to ooze. He braced himself against a wall as the pain swept through his body, not a physical pain but a deeper one, one that felt awfully like fear.

* * *

_A/N: I'm back! My semester from hell is basically done and now I actually have time to write! Hope you all are still around and doing well!_


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